The best rent reform is work, a family wage job.  To have one,  you can't be on drugs,  you have to show up every day,  you have to do what the job requires,  you have to respect authority and fellow workers,  you have to be clean,  alert,  of the mind to be the best you can be.  Rent controls won't help any of those requirements.  In fact,  the more that government does for you,  the less you are inclined to do a thing for yourself.  
The social contract is a two way street.  I see the sec 8 four plex on the next block,  the dumpster overflowing,  the lawn worn away by its use a motorcycle repair spot.  4 low rent apartments,  and 11 cars parked on their lot and in the street.  Last evening,  two little girls not more than first grade were riffling through the college prof lady  recycle bin,  pulling out papers and stuff.   The prof's weekly  housekeeper ran them off.  The Escalade with the Nevada plates finally has Oregon license plates,  after  4 years.  It's a dependency lifestyle.