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I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

mcsweeneys.net

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Re: I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

#61

Post by ta32423hoi2h »

throwaway290 wrote: post #52
JodieBenitez wrote: post #36

I know next to nothing about the US but France has 3 million unoccupied housings. https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/7727384

How did that happen? People buy houses and then not live there like Canada? Or there is not enough people? Can I move to france and live for free pls

Sure, if you don't mind living out in the sticks :P France has a big concentration of people around the big cities with a big empty diagonal in the middle of the country, form south-west to north-east (literally called 'la diagonale du vide'). Not only are you far from anything resembling a city, but infra for public & private transport are lacking. So if you can wfh and find a place with good 4g/5g coverage, and you won't miss social interactions, it can be great value. But as soon as you get closer to e.g. Paris or Lyon, things look very different.

Re: I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

#62

Post by tpoacher »

mola wrote: post #57

Sry lack of new houses doesn't seem like a cause for homelessness. Of you can't afford a house in the big city, you move to a smaller one. The problem is lack of a working welfare infrastructure. People become homeless because they're unlucky and once they're down, it's almost impossible to get back up.. it's a failure of state at so many levels. Real estate development is the least of them

Speaking from a London perspective, though I'm sure a NY one is worse, not better.

> Sry lack of new houses seems doesn't seem like a cause for homelessness. If you can't afford a house in the big city, you move to a smaller one.

This would only make sense if the smaller houses were reasonably priced as opposed to the bigger ones. This is not the case.

And creating more housing would absolutely be a step in the right direction in terms of reducing extreme housing prices. Unless you don't believe in demand and supply economics, that is.

> Once they're down, it's almost impossible to get back up

Yes but that's partly because they can't afford to rent even basic lodging, let alone afford to buy one, and a basic roof over one's head is a pivotal basic need for most things one needs to do in life.

Re: I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

#63

Post by borosuxks »

gadders wrote: post #59
scandox wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Dublin on 1st of February 2025 there were 1200 properties available to rent in a city of 1.5 million.

I wonder what could have happened in Dublin to use up loads of the available housing? Does anyone know?

Probably AirBNB

Re: I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

#64

Post by OtherShrezzing »

bisRepetita wrote: post #44
OtherShrezzing wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's not necessarily the most important question. A more important one is "are more homes (dwellings) the easiest way to reduce homelessness?", and "do more dwellings reduce the number of rough sleepers?", to which the answer is "yes". During Covid lockdowns, the UK housed all street-homeless people at four days notice (other countries did this too). This was possible because of the sudden availability of h…

Was it mandatory to be out of the streets, police enforced? Were the hotels free for the homeless population? Trying to figure out whether it was the increase of availability only, or combined of forced housing/low price point.

Voluntary - a small population chose to stay on the streets. The accommodation & some meals were provided at no cost to the individual.

Re: I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

#65

Post by Filligree »

gadders wrote: post #59
scandox wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Dublin on 1st of February 2025 there were 1200 properties available to rent in a city of 1.5 million.

I wonder what could have happened in Dublin to use up loads of the available housing? Does anyone know?

Years and years of insufficient building, combined with zoning rules that discourage apartment buildings.

EDIT: It's fascinating that I'm downvoted for this. I wonder if the voters also live in Dublin?

Re: I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

#66

Post by poisonborz »

gloxkiqcza wrote: post #23
Ccecil wrote: post #8

From what I have seen there isn't a housing shortage as much as an "affordable housing" shortage. Just my observation. Tons of overpriced apartments being built at 2x the price of the average renter. Housing subsidies will be next. Another attempt to prop up the rampant capitalism by means of socialism.

The issue is skewed supply and demand. If it’s profitable to buy housing as an investment, lower to middle class folk can’t compete with the upper class and businesses in the purchasing power, no matter how much housing gets build. I’m not sure whether there’s a good solution to this problem.

It's profitable for investment because of low supply.

Re: I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

#67

Post by TimPC »

willis936 wrote: post #45
rvnx wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Default on U.S. debt. A U.S. default would spike interest rates, crash bond markets, trigger a credit freeze, and destroy consumer confidence. Mortgages would become unaffordable. Mass foreclosures and job losses would crush demand. Asset fire sales would follow. Housing prices would collapse. This would also reshuffle assets, so speculators and highly leveraged people would be punished instead of being rewarded. It…

That's how you make existing housing cheap. That's not how you make new housing cheap. We still have a shortage.

The dilemma is you can’t make new housing cheap because if the price falls too much it becomes unprofitable to build and you don’t get new supply.

My city is currently facing this where the interest rate hikes, build tax hikes and falling prices have created a perfect storm of vastly reduced housing starts.

Re: I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

#69

Post by energy123 »

detourdog wrote: post #58
energy123 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a big problem in Democratic states like California, where the leftists (Dean Preston and other leftist NIMBYs) have allied themselves with homeowner liberals to make it impossible to build housing. Republican states like Texas do a significantly better job, as you can see by looking at annual per capita new housing, and lower rental inflation. There's a growing liberal movement to change this status quo but the…

North Adams Massachusetts has plenty of empty housing. There is a lot of vacant housing in Western Massachusetts.

Those are words that are low in epistemic legibility.

I look at metrics to arrive at my opinions. Things like the difference between the number of new housing per capita in various cities in California compared to Austin, Texas. Things like the R^2 when you do a linear regression of the amount of new housing per capita against changes in rental inflation.

Re: I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

#70

Post by folbec »

JodieBenitez wrote: post #36

I know next to nothing about the US but France has 3 million unoccupied housings. https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/7727384

Literally in the title of the article "... in areas of decreasing demographics ...".

So yes if you are willing to live in areas :

- without jobs, - without healthcare - in ghost towns

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