241–250 of 1001 posts
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…
There was a timely video about this yesterday from Oh the Urbanity: https://youtu.be/BRqZBuu_Ers?si=NlavrFpm8sNTUcYp
Summary is that Rotterdam did just this, and the effect was that the price to purchase a house did not measurably decrease, and that rents rose. The neighborhoods regulated in this way had fewer immigrants and skewed wealthier than those that were not.
So, not the effect we're looking for.
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…
And not just too much regulation, but the wrong kind of regulation, and a lack of regulation in areas that need it.
Someone in the article was forced out of her home because her landlord suddenly raised her rent by $500. That shouldn't be legal. Corporations buying up homes in order to drive up prices shouldn't be allowed. Lots of things are allowed that shouldn't be.
And yes, restrictions on building the kind of houses that people really need are also a problem. It's not a case of too much or too little regulation, but the wrong kind.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not only building new homes is unnecessarily complicated and expensive, single family homes are an incredible waste of space and money, had the US and it's big cities invested in apartment buildings with better amenities or forced developers to build shared neighborhood amenities Americans in general wouldn't be so incredibly against it. It's insane to me that my hometown of 1M people in Brazil has more tall apartmen…
> It's insane to me that my hometown of 1M people in Brazil has more tall apartment buildings than Philadelphia, with incredibly better amenities. Would you mind sharing what the amenities are that you are referring to--both the in-building and neighborhood amenities? In the US I've seen gyms, swimming pools, shared hosting spaces, and some child-friendly spaces, to name a few.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The issue is that a sizeable underclass is being created that have no wealth, not least because what wealth they did have has been funneled to the very wealthy. This has happened in all of the industrialized world, and it's happening very quickly right now. The reasons you mention are very US-specific, but the funneling happens everywhere, usually by more traditional means such as rents and taxes. Yes, taxes are gr…
> The reason for this massive wealth distribution is the inflationary monetary system Inflation serves to reduce wealth (if just stuffed under the mattress), and encourages investment (to beat inflation). The real problem is that wealth begets wealth - if left to it's own devices the capitalist system will ensure wealth becomes concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. The only way this can be counter-balanced is with g…
Inflation, in the current form, transfers wealth to the first people to receive/spend the newly printed money (the financial system) from the last people to receive the newly printed money (this is termed the Cantillon effect). Since the end of Bretton Woods in the 1970s there's been a massive increase in USD inflation coinciding with a massive increase in wealth inequality, as would be expected from a system based around systematic transfer of wealth from the real economy to the financial industry. Technically inflation doesn't have to act like this; if it occurred via helicopter money airdropped equally into everybody's bank account, there wouldn't be a wealth transfer. But with the current system it's a systematic source of inequality.
"There are a lot of services here if you're sober so I suspect they swooped in and found her." That's what is important. If someone has just had a run of lousy luck,there must be services to help them get back on their feet. The mentally ill, the junkies? You need services that give them a way out, but you cannot force them to use those services. If they won't accept help, then all that's left is "tough love": Force…
> If someone has just had a run of lousy luck,there must be services to help them get back on their feet.
For the most part, there aren't. Not in most of the US. Housing waiting lists were years long for decades. In the last few years it's gone from difficult to impossible.
My boomer sister just learned her long-time lease won't be renewed next year and she is planning for a transition to homelessness - because she can calculate simple odds.
In 2021, me + adult kids nearly joined the growing group of homeless people with money in the bank - because there was nowhere to go. Every available rental had hundreds of applicants. Since then, rents here are 50-300% over what they were 3 years ago (we're paying >2x).
There's no detail about modern housing that supports the notion that vulnerable people aren't at risk.
My mom was homeless for years, thankfully she got stable housing right before covid took off. - in shelters/churches-with-cots there would be crazed drug-users, she was threatened numerous times in them and the shelter can't do anything - I wasn't financially able to help her much but managed to buy her a "clunker" of a car which she later slept in before getting housing - she's entirely dependent on getting social s…
I don't think I heard of a single such story in my life. Is it a thing?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The issue is not supply and demand for houses - there are plenty enough to go around (though often in the wrong place). The issue is that a sizeable underclass is being created that have no wealth, not least because what wealth they did have has been funnelled to the very wealthy. For example, medical bills. For example student loans. For example zero interest rates with zero wage inflation meaning accommodation cost…
A house in Omaha doesn't help someone living in NY, so saying there are plenty of houses but they're just in the wrong place is so wildly wrong I have to think it's intentionally done just to score cheap political points.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you call a low experience worker, who only has access to jobs that pay insufficient to the cost of living? Underclass works fine for me. It seems like you do agree, you just either don't see that you do, or aren't honest enough to admit what the agreement means for the people who work these jobs. Their status as students or "other low skill" is irrelevant to their need to pay for food, housing, transport, hea…
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…