I always felt like calling the communist countries communist was like calling our republic a direct democracy. Maybe in spirit I guess, but not exactly in practice. You're in California right? What is the rent control/housing like where you are, if you don't mind my asking?
I live in Wa state. While we don't have specifically rent control, there are all kinds of other regulatory interferences with landlords. For example, one is that the tenant is not responsible for damage to the rental from domestic violence, the landlord is. Seattle will provide free lawyers to tenants who want to sue their landlords. Seattle made a lot of extensions to the rent moratoriums. There are requirements that someone building a new apt building must also build some "affordable housing" units.
