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What are the effects of the government implementing a ceiling price in the housing market?

The government introduces a price ceiling in the housing market. Suppose that consumers with the minimum willingness to pay are those who rent apartments. What are the effects of the price ceiling on consumers, producers, and the deadweight loss?

Public Comments

1. First of all, there is no feasible minimum willingness to pay. The minimum willingness to pay (theoretically of course) is negative infinity. Moving on, a price ceiling will in general will lower the price of apartments (assuming it's set below the market equilibrium price). On the face, this sounds wonderful. However, what happens is that the price ceiling only forces lower rent. It doesn't force landlords (producers) to continue renting apartments. What typically happens in the long-run is that landlords will lower costs by poorer maintenance, partitioning 1 apartment into 2 (or more), and using other methods of choosing who will rent their apartments. These other methods include more strict credit requirements, larger security deposits, and under-the-table bribes. Producer surplus decreases, consumer surplus may increase, decrease, or stay the same overall, but it is divided among a smaller number of consumers. Deadweight loss is also created/increased.
2. Price ceilings simply produce shortages.