4 ms·

100%, what is even crazier to me is that (at least before covid) the US rates of families moving had declining and was at the lowest point it had been for over

100%, what is even crazier to me is that (at least before covid) the US rates of families moving had declining and was at the lowest point it had been for over 100 years. The modern style of home ownership (30 year mortgage, house in the suburbs, local control of land use) has really deeply screwed up many economic feedback mechanisms that in previous generations powered the economic engine of the US. The economic history of our nation is a history of people moving east to west to new opportunity (both 100s of years ago to farm the land, extract resource and displace native peoples, and today to move to high productivity jobs near low cost housing in sunbelt cities), as well as people moving south to north to flee the Jim Crow south and a rentier economy based on the dispossession of black farmers. It should be easier to move, we should reintroduce the modern equivalent of "boarding houses", and the lowest tier of housing in urban centers should be much less expensive.

rgblambda 6y ago
>>we should reintroduce the modern equivalent of "boarding houses" In Ireland, this is called co-living, and has faced such backlash that new co-living developments have been effectively banned.
- Ericson2314 6y ago
  That's a real bummer, but keep in mind by American standards plain old "apartments" are radical enough.
- derriz 6y ago
  That's a very weird equivalence. I really can't see how living in a boarding house is anything like co-living? A boarding house is generally someone's primary residence where the owner lets out one or two spare bedrooms to lodgers and often provides them with meals and the like. They were mainly used by the transient, single and/or poor. Boarding houses hardly exist any more in the west. The classic boarding house owner was a widow back in the day when employment opportunities for elderly women were fairly bleak. Co-living has grown in the last decade in many wealthy western cities and provides accommodation which is somewhere between staying in a motel and renting a studio apartment. It's generally more expensive than renting a studio - because of the flexibility - and typically targets visiting professional workers or wealthy students.
  - rgblambda 6y ago
    I see co-living as a natural progression/commercialization of boarding houses. Maybe I'm completely wrong on that. But I see the Wikipedia article on co-living gives boarding houses as the origin of the concept. >>and typically targets visiting professional workers or wealthy students. I believe the official reason for the ban was that co-living developments were crowding out all other types of housing, forcing people outside of those two categories to rent them.
throwawayboise 6y ago
There was zero assistance in the past to help people move to areas with perceived better opportunity. Why should there be now?
- imtringued 6y ago
  Because your economy is not living up to it's potential. You can clearly see it in the lack of growth. China has changed rapidly and that means the US has to change rapidly.

rgblambda 6y ago

>>we should reintroduce the modern equivalent of "boarding houses" In Ireland, this is called co-living, and has faced such backlash that new co-living developments have been effectively banned.

Ericson2314 6y ago
That's a real bummer, but keep in mind by American standards plain old "apartments" are radical enough.
derriz 6y ago
That's a very weird equivalence. I really can't see how living in a boarding house is anything like co-living? A boarding house is generally someone's primary residence where the owner lets out one or two spare bedrooms to lodgers and often provides them with meals and the like. They were mainly used by the transient, single and/or poor. Boarding houses hardly exist any more in the west. The classic boarding house owner was a widow back in the day when employment opportunities for elderly women were fairly bleak. Co-living has grown in the last decade in many wealthy western cities and provides accommodation which is somewhere between staying in a motel and renting a studio apartment. It's generally more expensive than renting a studio - because of the flexibility - and typically targets visiting professional workers or wealthy students.
- rgblambda 6y ago
  I see co-living as a natural progression/commercialization of boarding houses. Maybe I'm completely wrong on that. But I see the Wikipedia article on co-living gives boarding houses as the origin of the concept. >>and typically targets visiting professional workers or wealthy students. I believe the official reason for the ban was that co-living developments were crowding out all other types of housing, forcing people outside of those two categories to rent them.

throwawayboise 6y ago

There was zero assistance in the past to help people move to areas with perceived better opportunity. Why should there be now?

imtringued 6y ago
Because your economy is not living up to it's potential. You can clearly see it in the lack of growth. China has changed rapidly and that means the US has to change rapidly.