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Because landlords are trying to profit off of the conditions created by the broader local community. They make a bet on which space created by the community wil
by Weebs 6y ago
Because landlords are trying to profit off of the conditions created by the broader local community. They make a bet on which space created by the community will allow them to extract more rent than the cost to maintain the building and pay the loan, and later sell the property for more than they paid.
Tenants are either members of the community who want a home, or are trying to provide a service to the community.
One group is trying to speculate on the value others will provide and get a cut, and they're able to do this because as they've ensured scarcity of affordable space. It's extraction
- twblalock 6y agoIt's not extraction, it's a service. If there were no landlords, it would be impossible to start a business in NYC without buying a building. Most businesses would never be able to afford that. Thank goodness there are landlords who are willing to rent out their buildings!
- Weebs 6y agoIt's not either or, you don't have to have individual ownership for properties. A landlord can be replaced by a neighborhood cooperative that redirects the value produced from the building back into the community (schools, public service funding, etc.) Private ownership and rent contracts is only one way of many to solve the problem of granting access to space without outright purchase. Also, providing a service and extracting value from others work aren't mutually exclusive. Consider this: a foreign organization extracts natural resources, refines them, sells the new product back to the localsy (and other outside communities) for large profits that are mostly redirected outside of the native community. I would clearly call that extraction, the fact that they also provide a service to the community doesn't negate that.