Ideology in the Housing Market: Rent Control, Deregulation, and the Struggle for Urban Space in Buenos Aires

Abstract

This thesis investigates the interplay between ideology and housing policy in contemporary Argentina, focusing on the passage of a national rent control law in 2020 and its repeal in 2023. Framed as a struggle between competing governance philosophies, the analysis examines how contrasting views of housing (either as a social right or as a market commodity) shaped responses to the country’s ongoing housing crisis. The 2020 law, passed under President Alberto Fernández’s Peronist administration, sought to stabilize the rental market through contract standardization and price regulation, but also generated unintended consequences such as reduced rental supply and pushing people to the informal housing market. The repeal under President Javier Milei’s libertarian government marked a sharp ideological pivot, emphasizing deregulation and private contract freedom in the name of restoring market efficiency. The research draws on historical analysis, contemporary media, legal texts, and academic literature to trace the evolution of Argentina’s housing policy from the early 20th century to the present. It situates the recent rent control episode within a broader context of economic volatility, institutional weakness, and ideological polarization. The thesis engages with multiple theoretical frameworks to interpret the policy choices and their outcomes. Findings suggest that both regulatory and deregulatory paradigms have reproduced distinct forms of exclusion, shaped by structural constraints such as inflation, financialization, and fragmented governance. The case of Buenos Aires illustrates how rent control functions as a site of ideological and material contestation, not merely a technical intervention. The paper concludes by calling for more context sensitive policy strategies that move beyond binary approaches to regulation, and that recognize the interdependence of legal design, economic conditions, and political values in shaping housing markets.