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Another far less wonky solution to consider: public housing.
by jim-jim-jim 8y ago
Another far less wonky solution to consider: public housing.
- Kalium 8y agoThe tricks tend to be affording enough of it, building enough of it, and maintaining it. Even places with widely lauded public housing systems, like Vienna, can't reliably manage all of these. Public housing in the US has a less pleasant record, often synonymous with concentrated poverty.
- everdev 8y agoI've never met anyone in the US who has enjoyed their experience in public housing or low rent apartments.
- cookingrobot 8y agoHere are some examples from outside of the US of luxury public housing. https://jacobinmag.com/2018/11/beautiful-public-housing-red-vienna-social-housing https://jacobinmag.com/2018/11/beautiful-public-housing-red-...
- everdev 8y agoI don't think it's an engineering challenge, I think it's a cultural challenge. When traveling abroad, it's amazing how clean everything is. The amount of trash on US highways, city sidewalks, public parks, etc. is pretty noticeable when you return. I'm sure we could build beautiful housing pretty affordably, but I'm not sure we could keep it beautiful unless we treat affordable housing as an ongoing investment and not just build it and forget about it.
- Bartweiss 8y agoPublic housing is hardly a libertarian's dream, but even from a laissez-faire viewpoint this makes vastly more sense than rent control. If you want something, and the market isn't providing it, you subsidize the supply or you buy it directly. That might distort prices relative to an independent market, but if your public policy is stable they'll still reflect relative demand and supply. Subsidizing purchases or constraining prices doesn't just alter the market, it degrades the signal - and usually doesn't fulfill the goal except in the very short term.