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Homelessness is the tip of the housing iceberg. Right behind the homeless are those who are a paycheck, or emergency, from losing everything. Behind them are

Homelessness is the tip of the housing iceberg. Right behind the homeless are those who are a paycheck, or emergency, from losing everything. Behind them are millions of paying out there earnings in high rent, forced to share apartments to live where the job pays. Fronting it all are upper-middle class people, foreign investors, and venture capital, buying up properties to rent out. The cause is not a lack of "affordable housing", it's a lack of housing, period. What's not affordable are regulations and competing with real estate capital. What's not affordable is spending most of your income on rent, and this is hardly a choice for most people right now. People will stare, and think, gosh this homeless situation is sad, inhumane, drugs/mental, w/e, but meanwhile, the shortage of housing and the affordability to create more is going to make it worse for everybody, especially those who are stuck in the middle with increasing rents and stagnant wages.

readhn 8y ago
The term "landlord" has to go away. We are not in mid-evil times anymore: 1. It should be made financially speaking prohibitively expensive to be a residential landlord. I.e. buy a house and charge others rent to live in it. Tax it at 100%. Done! 2. Change zoning/building codes to allow modern and more efficient construction, allow people to get easy financing to build more HIGH QUALITY and affordable housing. 3. Change mortgage laws to make it possible for more financially responsible families to build and own homes.
equalarrow 8y ago
"What's not affordable is spending most of your income on rent, and this is hardly a choice for most people right now." Not a choice? Don't you enter into a rental agreement via choice? I've never met anyone who's said they were forced to rent some place. I don't necessarily disagree with the housing shortage, but there's reasons for that. Look at state, local laws and nimby's that pass and influence local zoning restrictions. San Francisco is a perfect example of that process gone awry. Want affordable rent? Then you can still choose not to live in one of the areas that is anti-housing.
- unethical_ban 8y ago
  I wish people didn't trivialize the struggle with moving from a metropolitan area, as if leaving everything and everyone close to you is a simple, rational, mathematical decision to save a few hundred a month on rent.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

readhn 8y ago

The term "landlord" has to go away. We are not in mid-evil times anymore: 1. It should be made financially speaking prohibitively expensive to be a residential landlord. I.e. buy a house and charge others rent to live in it. Tax it at 100%. Done! 2. Change zoning/building codes to allow modern and more efficient construction, allow people to get easy financing to build more HIGH QUALITY and affordable housing. 3. Change mortgage laws to make it possible for more financially responsible families to build and own homes.

equalarrow 8y ago

"What's not affordable is spending most of your income on rent, and this is hardly a choice for most people right now." Not a choice? Don't you enter into a rental agreement via choice? I've never met anyone who's said they were forced to rent some place. I don't necessarily disagree with the housing shortage, but there's reasons for that. Look at state, local laws and nimby's that pass and influence local zoning restrictions. San Francisco is a perfect example of that process gone awry. Want affordable rent? Then you can still choose not to live in one of the areas that is anti-housing.

unethical_ban 8y ago
I wish people didn't trivialize the struggle with moving from a metropolitan area, as if leaving everything and everyone close to you is a simple, rational, mathematical decision to save a few hundred a month on rent.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]