4 ms·

I’ve never quite understood why subletting is illigal in places like this. Person A needs money because rent is high, person B needs housing because housing is

by swiley 7y ago

I’ve never quite understood why subletting is illigal in places like this. Person A needs money because rent is high, person B needs housing because housing is scarce, A rents B their couch and everyone is happy. Obviously that’s a little different than just sticking the whole thing on Airbnb, but it looks to me like it’s legally considered the same when it really shouldn’t be.

DougN7 7y ago
If A is getting subsidized housing they’re earning taking others’ taxes and profiting from it. I’d say they’re not entitled to the subsidy in that case.
- swiley 7y ago
  I get what you’re saying but I’m still not convinced it totally makes sense. The goal of subsidized housing is to make housing more affordable for some group of people, subletting likely has the same effect so the money subsidizing the building is still going to the same thing.
  - cldellow 7y ago
    I think the argument would be something like this: Renting on Airbnb has the effect of subsidizing this one person's housing, not of subsidizing the community's housing. If the goal is to use Airbnb to increase social housing opportunities, the council should do it directly, so any excess profit can be reinvested in new housing for more than just one person.
  - vorpalhex 7y ago
    You're running a business with somebodies charity - that's a no go. If I give you $50 to buy food and you run a lemonade stand with $25 of it, then you've abused my charity. Now, it might be that I shouldn't have given you the $50, or that we should have discussed giving you a business loan instead - those things are fine. There's nothing fundamentally bad about running a lemonade stand. You simply can't run a lemonade stand with charity earmarked for not-lemonade-stands.
gnode 7y ago
It's because the housing is highly subsidised by the government, in an attempt to prevent gentrification pushing low income people out of the area, breaking up their communities, changing the ethic makeup of the community and other such social issues. The government does not want the limited number of subsidised spaces to go to people who are happy to move away from the area and receive the market value of renting the place. This effectively results in the government granting them an income, and the social problems continuing, where a space would otherwise have been available for somebody else.
soneil 7y ago
I think the issue here is scarcity. There's waiting lists for most council housing. The whole idea of council housing is that the state provides you housing because you can't provide your own. If they're renting out theirs, where are they living? They apparently don't actually have a need, else they'd be living in it. So they're profiteering off housing that someone in need is still on the waiting list for. (I'd be tempted to agree with you if they were renting out their couch; the screenshot shows "Entire home/flat; 3 guests")
yardie 7y ago
It is illegal and immoral. You have requested a government subsidised flat because you need it and would not be able to afford one otherwise. The government has determined, after some research, yes you do need one of their flats. If you’re subletting it then it’s obvious you don’t need it. You’re staying elsewhere, someone is paying you to stay in your place, and the long list of people who really need it remains full.

by swiley 7y ago

DougN7 7y ago

If A is getting subsidized housing they’re earning taking others’ taxes and profiting from it. I’d say they’re not entitled to the subsidy in that case.

swiley 7y ago
I get what you’re saying but I’m still not convinced it totally makes sense. The goal of subsidized housing is to make housing more affordable for some group of people, subletting likely has the same effect so the money subsidizing the building is still going to the same thing.
- cldellow 7y ago
  I think the argument would be something like this: Renting on Airbnb has the effect of subsidizing this one person's housing, not of subsidizing the community's housing. If the goal is to use Airbnb to increase social housing opportunities, the council should do it directly, so any excess profit can be reinvested in new housing for more than just one person.
- vorpalhex 7y ago
  You're running a business with somebodies charity - that's a no go. If I give you $50 to buy food and you run a lemonade stand with $25 of it, then you've abused my charity. Now, it might be that I shouldn't have given you the $50, or that we should have discussed giving you a business loan instead - those things are fine. There's nothing fundamentally bad about running a lemonade stand. You simply can't run a lemonade stand with charity earmarked for not-lemonade-stands.

gnode 7y ago

It's because the housing is highly subsidised by the government, in an attempt to prevent gentrification pushing low income people out of the area, breaking up their communities, changing the ethic makeup of the community and other such social issues. The government does not want the limited number of subsidised spaces to go to people who are happy to move away from the area and receive the market value of renting the place. This effectively results in the government granting them an income, and the social problems continuing, where a space would otherwise have been available for somebody else.

soneil 7y ago

I think the issue here is scarcity. There's waiting lists for most council housing. The whole idea of council housing is that the state provides you housing because you can't provide your own. If they're renting out theirs, where are they living? They apparently don't actually have a need, else they'd be living in it. So they're profiteering off housing that someone in need is still on the waiting list for. (I'd be tempted to agree with you if they were renting out their couch; the screenshot shows "Entire home/flat; 3 guests")

yardie 7y ago

It is illegal and immoral. You have requested a government subsidised flat because you need it and would not be able to afford one otherwise. The government has determined, after some research, yes you do need one of their flats. If you’re subletting it then it’s obvious you don’t need it. You’re staying elsewhere, someone is paying you to stay in your place, and the long list of people who really need it remains full.