system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Are we approaching a breaking point with rent?

I'm paying $1251 a month for a 770 square foot 1 bedroom apartment and that's considered "cheap" to a lot of people. 

I'm seeing people pay up to $3000 a month for 1 bedroom apartments in California.

The only truly "cheap" places are in bumfucknowhere with no jobs or prospects to make a decent living.

My question is, how sustainable is this? People are spending all their money on a building they'll never own and I can't imagine this is good for the economy overall, but great for property management companies and landlords.

Is this one of those "let the market speak" or is government intervention going to be necessary? If so, what kind of intervention? California has tried rent control and it hasn't helped at all. Their issue is lack of inventory.
gpt
Your observation of rent control is correct. It severely restricts supply of housing, and is one of the worst ways for a government to combat rising rent and property costs.

However, abolishing rent control in a state like California will not solve the underlying issue. California, and many other states in the United States, have a wide variety of zoning regulations that strictly limit the quantity of new housing/apartments that can be built. These zoning regulations are locally determined, and it is often in the best interest of the locals to maintain these regulations. For example, local homeowners may choose to block the construction of a six story apartment as it may ruin the aesthetic or environment of their predominately single family home neighborhood. 

This is in contrast to Japan, where zoning and housing regulations are set at a national level. This allows their government to more easily issue housing permits, and to ensure that housing supply exceeds demand. The results are low growth in rent and property prices over the last decade, even in major cities such as Tokyo. 

A major step to combat rent crisis in the USA would be to transfer control of housing/zoning regulations to a state or federal level.