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There are enough empty houses to house every homeless person in the country: there are ~ 19 million empty houses in the country. (in 2019)

• epistasis 5y ago
  Shipping people to other states against their will, and away from their connections, support networks, and whatever else they say need, is both unethical and counterproductive. Who the hell cares about homes nobody wants to live in? Build homes where people want them, don't let a few wealthy assholes hoard the best climate from everyone else. Why defend the interests of rentiers and landlords like this? It helps no one except the very wealthy.
  • swiley 5y ago
    We did this in the 50s to Mexico and the result is the modern Mexican state. This is truly one of the worst things you can do.
  • freen 5y ago
    I wholeheartedly agree. I never meant we should ship people places, just that “supply” exceeds “demand”. Capitalism is an inherently inefficient mechanism for the distribution of resources. It favors the aggregation of capital over efficient distribution.
    • epistasis 5y ago
      When you write "there's enough empty homes to house every homeless person," the only possible interpretation I can come up with is that you're saying that capitalism has provided enough housing already, and that we should use those existing houses. Is there another interpretation that you can provide me, that I'm not understanding? Because I see that claim repeated all over the place, and I only see it in response to the idea that we should build homes where people want them, as a reason for not building homes. I would be greatly relieved if there was an interpretation of that statement which was not just a defense of the status quo.