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The common response to this is: Universal Basic Income.

ck2 11y ago
You mean guaranteed minimum housing cost. Or guaranteed minimum landlord profit. Because rent will rise by exactly whatever guaranteed minimum income becomes. Same way college costs rise to whatever loans are available.
- chillwaves 11y ago
  That's a good rebuttal, however you seem to ignore the innovating spirit of humans. Why should we live where rents are high? Not sure if you are in America, but we have lots of land and many places it is cheap. If UBI is indeed universal, we are not tied to the markets that are cornered. Secondly, if we go that far why not push for more public housing as well (can do it in a failing city like Michigan or build a new city) and let people create their own economies?
  - ktRolster 11y ago
    > Why should we live where rents are high? I don't know, I ask that every time I drive down the road in Silicon Valley.
- dllthomas 11y ago
  "Because rent will rise by exactly whatever guaranteed minimum income becomes." That seems unlikely, because of competition. Not merely of identical units, but of all alternatives. We are not terribly supply-constrained on housing, nationally or globally (some markets certainly are, actually or artificially). "Same way college costs rise to whatever loans are available." Money that is available only to a single purpose is a substantially different dynamic than money that can be put to other uses.
  - bobby_9x 11y ago
    Most cities have housing restrictions. Since this will most likely never change, rent will go up accordingly.
    - dllthomas 11y ago
      Competition of all alternatives. As I said, this is not merely identical units. It includes those cities which do not have housing restrictions. It includes any new units permitted inside existing housing restrictions. It includes increased sharing of housing (this is also impacted by other forms of "housing restrictions" but most people live in situations below maximum occupancy). It includes moving outside of cities entirely (made more attractive in the presence of a basic income). To the extent that people choose these alternatives, rents will face downward pressure. They may still go up, but "the entirety of BI will simply become rent" seems wrong.
- douche 11y ago
  A truly universal basic income would probably allow a diaspora from the currently over-saturated, "the rent is too damn high" markets, into the surplus housing stock and land that sits vacant due to poor local economies throughout the country. If I could earn a guaranteed $25k for breathing, I sure as hell wouldn't be where I am now, since I could go home and buy a good chunk of land, do some subsistence farming, and happily hack away and read at my leisure.

ck2 11y ago

You mean guaranteed minimum housing cost. Or guaranteed minimum landlord profit. Because rent will rise by exactly whatever guaranteed minimum income becomes. Same way college costs rise to whatever loans are available.

chillwaves 11y ago
That's a good rebuttal, however you seem to ignore the innovating spirit of humans. Why should we live where rents are high? Not sure if you are in America, but we have lots of land and many places it is cheap. If UBI is indeed universal, we are not tied to the markets that are cornered. Secondly, if we go that far why not push for more public housing as well (can do it in a failing city like Michigan or build a new city) and let people create their own economies?
- ktRolster 11y ago
  > Why should we live where rents are high? I don't know, I ask that every time I drive down the road in Silicon Valley.
dllthomas 11y ago
"Because rent will rise by exactly whatever guaranteed minimum income becomes." That seems unlikely, because of competition. Not merely of identical units, but of all alternatives. We are not terribly supply-constrained on housing, nationally or globally (some markets certainly are, actually or artificially). "Same way college costs rise to whatever loans are available." Money that is available only to a single purpose is a substantially different dynamic than money that can be put to other uses.
- bobby_9x 11y ago
  Most cities have housing restrictions. Since this will most likely never change, rent will go up accordingly.
  - dllthomas 11y ago
    Competition of all alternatives. As I said, this is not merely identical units. It includes those cities which do not have housing restrictions. It includes any new units permitted inside existing housing restrictions. It includes increased sharing of housing (this is also impacted by other forms of "housing restrictions" but most people live in situations below maximum occupancy). It includes moving outside of cities entirely (made more attractive in the presence of a basic income). To the extent that people choose these alternatives, rents will face downward pressure. They may still go up, but "the entirety of BI will simply become rent" seems wrong.
douche 11y ago
A truly universal basic income would probably allow a diaspora from the currently over-saturated, "the rent is too damn high" markets, into the surplus housing stock and land that sits vacant due to poor local economies throughout the country. If I could earn a guaranteed $25k for breathing, I sure as hell wouldn't be where I am now, since I could go home and buy a good chunk of land, do some subsistence farming, and happily hack away and read at my leisure.