If there's a shortage of bread, prices of bread will go up. The price is a symptom, the problem is not the price, it's the scarcity. Prices are simply an expression of scarcity.
The worst thing to do if there's a shortage of bread and thereby a shortage of bread bakers, is to put a cap on bread prices and reduce the bakers' incentives.
If there's issues of inequity (e.g. the poor being unable to afford bread) then you can tax the general economy progressively (taxing the rich the most), and then redistribute money to the poor, subsidising their purchase of bread. This equalises consumption, but it does not artificially lower prices with a cap, thereby keeping incentives to bake bread high, which is the primary way to addressing the scarcity.
Rent subsidies and income redistribution, sure, but rent caps aren't necessarily great instrument.
Except that doesn't happen in a shortage of bread, because the government steps in to protect against price gouging in order to ensure everyone has a chance to eat, not just the rich.
The worst thing to do if there's a shortage of bread and thereby a shortage of bread bakers, is to put a cap on bread prices and reduce the bakers' incentives.
If there's issues of inequity (e.g. the poor being unable to afford bread) then you can tax the general economy progressively (taxing the rich the most), and then redistribute money to the poor, subsidising their purchase of bread. This equalises consumption, but it does not artificially lower prices with a cap, thereby keeping incentives to bake bread high, which is the primary way to addressing the scarcity.
Rent subsidies and income redistribution, sure, but rent caps aren't necessarily great instrument.