101–110 of 452 posts
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Switzerland ships the homeless by bus to other European capitals for free. https://www.joe.co.uk/news/swiss-city-offers-beggars-one-way...
I think that has more to do with the summer gypsies than an endemic homeless problem.
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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.
There is. Progressive taxation. Your first purchase is tax free. Second is a percentage and the more you accumulate the higher the percentage.
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There is. Progressive taxation. Your first purchase is tax free. Second is a percentage and the more you accumulate the higher the percentage.
I'm trying to see how this would work. Would this be single family homes only? Duplexes and triplexes? Apartments/condos?
I don't think housing will help the people with mental health issues and addiction problems. Honestly I think sometimes building (compassionate, 21st century) mental health "asylums" and treatment centres would do more to end homelessness.
Rounding all the homeless up into an asylum is just sweeping the problem under the carpet.
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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…
Sounds about perfect where do I sign up.
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This is a fair point. And better protection regulations too so owners cannot hike rents as they so wish. We have it in Canada so not sure about the US, but I guess at least some states have some sort of protection.
Rent control doesn't work. The unintended negative side effects are too large.
I don't think housing will help the people with mental health issues and addiction problems. Honestly I think sometimes building (compassionate, 21st century) mental health "asylums" and treatment centres would do more to end homelessness.
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I happen to live in a rural area. Rural France is not the third world. Small towns are very much alive. Healthcare is organized around "pôles de santé". Now about jobs... that's an interesting point and probably the most important. The society as whole should favor decentralizing work. There is no point in concentrating jobs around big cities.
The vast majority of jobs are not decentralized and will not be for the foreseeable future. You cannot be a steelworker or waiter or actor from a home office or location that doesn't have high in-person demand for those things. There are countless reasons jobs are (and should be) concentrated around big cities. You are lucky and speaking from a position of privilege if this is not something you worry about.
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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.
>if the price falls too much it becomes unprofitable to build and you don’t get new supply This is saying "building is expensive because building is expensive". Why is it expensive and how do we address it to make it cheaper?
Build less and worse per unit. Share foundations, roofs, walls, and common areas. Build less square footage per unit. Build less fancy per square foot (cheaper kitchens and baths). Use all standard materials and finishes. Install low-end appliances and HVAC. Everything cookie-cutter; no per-unit changes. Use less land per unit (and maybe less expensive land overall). Have no private outdoor space (or just a tiny balcony).
That’s not well aligned to how to maximize profits from a given unit though (fairly obviously and by intentional design).
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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?