Rent control in New York City

[phorntita]

Dear all,
I'm trying to get the concept of this paragraph. Please advise me how to simplify this paragraph into an easy one?

>> Though the government attempted to control this deterioration by imposing standards on landlords, these attempts were only partially successful , and indeed exacerbated the decline in the supply of rental housing. There was little the city government could do to stop this, short of repealing the rent control statutes for new housing,which it eventually did, though numerous older buildings remain under rent control. Many more remain under "rent stabilization" legislation, which controls the rate of increase in rents.>>
What does this sentence mean ?
short of repealing the rent control statutes for new housing
I assume it meant that the government should cancel the regulations about the Rent Control for a short period of time for new housing which will help in the shortage of supply of rental housing. Is it correct? Thank you for your time.
Phorntita

[5jj]

There was little the city government could do to stop this, short of repealing the rent control statutes for new housing,

There was little that was less extreme than repealing the statutes that the government could do.

The implication is that repealing the statutes was (almost) the only thing they could do to stop this.

[SoothingDave]

"Repeal" is permanent, not temporary. A temporary change in a legal requirement, etc. would be called a "moratorium."

The idea here is that artificially lowering the price of housing naturally leads to shortages and poor quality. The only way to correct the situation is to let the market function, that is, to remove the rent control.

[5jj]

1. [/B] And how did it relate to the new housing?
2. Does short of mean "lack of"...?

1. The rent control stautes were repealed, as you originally thought, but not for a short time. (If it had been for a limited period, the statutes would have been suspended rather than repealed.)
2. If A falls short of B, then A does not reach/get to/achieve B.

[phorntita]

1. The rent control stautes were repealed, as you originally thought, but not for a short time. (If it had been for a limited period, the statutes would have been suspended rather than repealed.)
2. If A falls short of B, then A does not reach/get to/achieve B.

Thank you

OK , I think I've got what I'm looking for already. Looking up in my dictionary, it say "short of" means "only if" so I can understand that the government could stop this problem by repealing the rent control for the new housing and let the old buildings comply to the legislation of rent control, right.
Phorntita