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The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

moneywise.com

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Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#391

Post by packetlost »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #369
peyton wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think houses should be used by anybody to build up wealth.

So apartments shouldn't exist? Or...? I understand your perspective; there's a reason the term "rent-seeking" has a negative connotation. But I don't really see an alternative that wouldn't be worse. Different tax rates for primary residences sounds like a potentially okay compromise (though it would make renting more expensive, by design).

No. Build more condos. We generally still need the density.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#392

Post by packetlost »

peyton wrote: post #233
packetlost wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We, IMO, need a progressive tax system for every home controlled by an entity that isn't their primary residence. You don't want to hurt small individuals trying to build up wealth, but we need to stop allowing large corporations to turn basic necessities into investment vehicles.

I don’t think houses should be used by anybody to build up wealth.

Fair.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#393

Post by gumballindie »

zb1plus wrote: post #134

In places like the bay area with a housing crisis and limited space to expand, the state should seize office buildings (remote work is the future and would help alleviate the shortage while new housing is developed) by eminent domain and set up a scheme like Singapore's HDB system [1] to develop affordable housing. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_and_Development_Board

Yes but what will they do with all the managers that need to see people in front of them to know they are working and all the workers that need to scuttlebutt? Those are difficult questions that need answering.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#394

Post by max47 »

horpolopolil wrote: post #372
Nifty3929 wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would happen to the person renting from the landlord, if the corporation hadn’t purchased the house to rent to them? Well, maybe that person would buy the house themselves to live in. But there still wouldn’t be any more houses for YOU to buy. Corporations and landlords aren’t the problem, lack of building is.

No, they are too. If you build, blackrock, or evergrand will buy it for a lot more than most can afford. The goal being to limit stock and push the prices of their asset up.

As long as they don’t leave it empty, they are not limiting the stock. Changing the name on a piece of paper doesn’t magically creates new houses out of thin air.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#395

Post by no_wizard »

jmclnx wrote: post #96
throwawaaarrgh wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most Metro areas do not have enough affordable housing. It's well established that local governments cannot build enough new affordable housing, partly because any contractor that bids goes way over the value of a private housing venture. The idea that there's enough housing but "in the wrong place" is like saying there's plenty of jobs, they're just in third world countries and Scandinavia. The idea that the solutio…

>Most Metro areas do not have enough affordable housing. Not only that, the definition of "affordable housing" is skewed. In the big metro area near me, "affordable housing" means 1500 to 2000 USD per month. That is not affordable to any normal person. To me, affordable rent should be below 1000 USD. You think this homeless crises is bad, wait 30 years and then you will see Cities with large slums like many "third" w…

ProPublica did a whole series on one of the larger "Cash for your house" type businesses. It seems they're really trying to extract cheap homes from distressed sellers with pressure tactics[0][1][2][3]

[0]: https://www.propublica.org/article/ugly-truth-behind-we-buy-...

[1]: https://www.propublica.org/article/behind-the-scenes-of-we-b...

[2]: https://www.propublica.org/article/state-federal-laws-do-lit...

[3]: https://www.propublica.org/article/want-to-sell-home-for-cas...

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#396

Post by JumpCrisscross »

escapedmoose wrote: post #192
jongjong wrote: post #16

Part of the problem is government regulation. In some places, it's almost impossible to build new houses due to regulations. Some portion of the population wants to see house prices continue to increase and they will vote for politicians who will implement policies which will support that agenda. Of course this happens at the expense of another, also large portion of the population who do not own a house and have to…

Among my friends seeking to buy houses, the greater problem is the ability of large companies to buy up whatever is on the market, which they then immediately turn into a rental. It’s nearly impossible to compete with a company who will pay $50k over asking price, in cash, for the house you’re trying to get. Comparatively, immigrants don’t have the purchasing power to compete, so saying they’re the problem is a weird…

> the greater problem is the ability of large companies to buy up whatever is on the market

Out of curiosity, where? How do they know this?

I bought my house “cash.” It doesn’t mean I filed my car with paper. Just that I didn’t require a financing contingency. (Brokers typically don’t know who they lost a house to until property records are updated.)

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#397

Post by karaterobot »

expertentipp wrote: post #3

It's "I got mine and don't care" until what you've got melts in your hand like an ice cube and then nobody cares.

Demonstrating that there was never anything especially greedy or selfish about baby boomers, because everyone will sneer at the less fortunate when it's their turn to have a little more.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#398

Post by Ajedi32 »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #261
spir wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You only perceive corporate landlords as the greater problem because we're not living in the counterfactual reality where there are millions of new apartments that are inexpensive, tiny, safe, quiet, modern, clean, dignified, and well-located. In pretty much every major city in North America, it is illegal or there is too much red tape to build the affordable housing people actually want. Why is it that living in a t…

Maybe? Or how about they are in no-way comparable.Unless you are talking mass subsidization there is an absolute floor for providing housing, not to mention finite capacity for both tent cities and affordable apartments.

What would you say determines the level of that floor?

It's an interesting question, because I can imagine lots of possible housing solutions that would be way cheaper than $2k/month and more pleasant than living in a tent on the street. So the question is why haven't those solutions been built?

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#399

Post by gustavus »

version_five wrote: post #6
0dayz wrote: post #5

That's very surprising, given that you typically hear about how it's the baby boomers who reaped the rewards and screwed over everyone else.

They're not all identical and they don't share with each other. The article didn't mention it but I'd also suspect lack of strong family ties is a big contributor. It's going to be people who didn't have kids or have estranged kids and are widowed or unmarried that are most exposed, and that demographic will only keep going up.

I honestly believe this is probably the biggest problem, it isn't the other issues, it's the dissolution of the family, many poeple got in big on the 80's "divorce" culture that promised that divorce would liberate and free you to live your best life, in the process they destroyed families and lives, especially their children's, and now many of them are realizing why family was always so important, as they've alienated their own and have no where to go.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#400

Post by BytesAndGears »

yowzadave wrote: post #250
BytesAndGears wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s totally relevant because someone in their 20s might be able to live with their parents, or has multiple roommates etc. The amount of money that they need is much less than that of someone more established. It is a really interesting contrast though, that in Amsterdam where I now live (and many other parts of Europe), this divide doesn’t exist as strongly. We have a perfectly happy and healthy ~40 year old woman…

Are you arguing that people in their 20s should not be able to start families?

Absolutely not! Just that it’s more likely for someone to be able to take a job like that without becoming homeless or hungry, since there are a decent amount of young people who don’t need a lot.

I was mostly just trying to give a steel-man for the previous person’s thoughts before sharing my bit of info. Because it’s a complex issue and I don’t want to dismiss anyone acting in good faith.

The other part of my comment was, I thought, the more interesting part. About how this weird “able to support a family” vs “not” dichotomy seems to be a US problem that hasn’t hit Europe.

The Netherlands does have a more complex minimum wage law though, which starts low for a 15-year-old, and gets progressively higher until you’re a young adult (at 21) [0]. And it also has a clause that if you’re supporting yourself, then the highest level minimum wage applies regardless of age. I think that helps resolve the issue I mentioned above.

[0] https://www.government.nl/topics/minimum-wage/amount-of-the-...

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