4 ms·

Not just zoning reform, we need to make actual free housing for people. We have an economy that can't provide enough jobs. We have a surplus of goods. We don't

Not just zoning reform, we need to make actual free housing for people. We have an economy that can't provide enough jobs. We have a surplus of goods. We don't need people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, we just need to give people a place to live and some food to eat so they can contribute and potentially dig themselves out of any hole they have found themselves in.

6f8986c3 5y ago
> We have an economy that can't provide enough jobs. Bullshit. There is plenty of work that needs to be done. People are just paid to not do it. In urban areas, they become political slaves, and in rural areas, it destroys any chance they might have of building a local economy.
- tehwebguy 5y ago
  Citation needed! This bad meme became very popular when the federal gov paid out an extra $600 (then $400, then $300) / wk in unemployment insurance benefits. In reality UI benefits have been utterly destroyed in some states (see FL -- underfunded, payout is dirt and getting approved or denied took people months) and in the rest of the states the payouts are so low they were totally insufficient. Perhaps the biggest lie, however, is that people can just stay on these benefits or turn down work -- they are time limited per recipient and turning down work / quitting your job makes you ineligible!
jdavis703 5y ago
Even government run public housing charges rent. Making housing free will mean even larger subsidies are required for construction, which means fewer units built overall.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > Even government run public housing charges rent. IIRC, the norm is sliding-scale income contingent with a minimum of zero, so, it only sometimes charges rent, and has costs associated with identifying whether to charge and, if so, the rent to charge, charging, tracking, and collecting it.
- TheSpiceIsLife 5y ago
  We’re well beyond the point where this is a valid argument to make.
rufus_foreman 5y ago
>> We have an economy that can't provide enough jobs That's so wrong. There are more job openings right now than there are unemployed workers. Explain it to me, how is that "an economy that can't provide enough jobs"?
- imtringued 5y ago
  Think about it this way. If there were enough good paying jobs around for everyone then recessions would be impossible because people always have the option to switch to a good job.
  - holler 5y ago
    That implies that everyone wants to work, AND that the people who are homeless at the margin want to live in a house. Case in point: I live in a "nice" area up on a hill in my city and there are multiple homeless who sleep/have camps in the hillside directly adjacent. One of them drives a bmw and has been there at least 6 months. A couple sits in their car all day in the same spot doing who knows what. There are many people who simply do not want to take part in society, while still living within it.

6f8986c3 5y ago

> We have an economy that can't provide enough jobs. Bullshit. There is plenty of work that needs to be done. People are just paid to not do it. In urban areas, they become political slaves, and in rural areas, it destroys any chance they might have of building a local economy.

tehwebguy 5y ago
Citation needed! This bad meme became very popular when the federal gov paid out an extra $600 (then $400, then $300) / wk in unemployment insurance benefits. In reality UI benefits have been utterly destroyed in some states (see FL -- underfunded, payout is dirt and getting approved or denied took people months) and in the rest of the states the payouts are so low they were totally insufficient. Perhaps the biggest lie, however, is that people can just stay on these benefits or turn down work -- they are time limited per recipient and turning down work / quitting your job makes you ineligible!

jdavis703 5y ago

Even government run public housing charges rent. Making housing free will mean even larger subsidies are required for construction, which means fewer units built overall.

dragonwriter 5y ago
> Even government run public housing charges rent. IIRC, the norm is sliding-scale income contingent with a minimum of zero, so, it only sometimes charges rent, and has costs associated with identifying whether to charge and, if so, the rent to charge, charging, tracking, and collecting it.
TheSpiceIsLife 5y ago
We’re well beyond the point where this is a valid argument to make.

rufus_foreman 5y ago

>> We have an economy that can't provide enough jobs That's so wrong. There are more job openings right now than there are unemployed workers. Explain it to me, how is that "an economy that can't provide enough jobs"?

imtringued 5y ago
Think about it this way. If there were enough good paying jobs around for everyone then recessions would be impossible because people always have the option to switch to a good job.
- holler 5y ago
  That implies that everyone wants to work, AND that the people who are homeless at the margin want to live in a house. Case in point: I live in a "nice" area up on a hill in my city and there are multiple homeless who sleep/have camps in the hillside directly adjacent. One of them drives a bmw and has been there at least 6 months. A couple sits in their car all day in the same spot doing who knows what. There are many people who simply do not want to take part in society, while still living within it.