Polanski said such measures would ease the cost of housing and help end the normalisation of people using food banks, such as that run by the Forest Row Community Fridge.
He claimed that households would be saving, on average, £3,000 per year if rent controls had been introduced in 2022.
“That would put £18bn of purchasing power back in the pockets of people who are able to spend that on their communities rather than that money going to private landlords,” he said.
From 2027, councils in Scotland will be able to ask for powers from the Scottish government to introduce rent controls, external.
Similar powers do not exist in England, although annual increases in rents for social housing are capped.
Rent controls can take many different forms but include limiting how much a landlord can raise rents between tenancies as well as during them.
Landlord groups warn they can put owners off renting out properties which could reduce the number of homes available.