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I think eventually we'll get to a point in the US where it's illegal for corporations to buy residential housing.

by clpm4j 5y ago

wcarron 5y ago
I dearly hope so. Housing is for people, not corporations. I would like to see the introduction of zoning laws that accomplish this.
namelessoracle 5y ago
I dont see private ownership of apartment buildings happening anytime soon. I worry we might see the opposite. Someone will be convinced the "solution" to the housing crisis is to just remove citizen ownership of housing to begin with.
- kylehotchkiss 5y ago
  Nobody is going to be willing to fork over the building maintenance fees (which will continue to increase over the years) after their mortgages are paid off.
  - Ekaros 5y ago
    It is a cultural thing. Some countries have private ownership of apartment buildings to be very common. One way is a LLC where stock grants rights to single apartment. Then LLC charges monthly fee. Or even loans for larger renovations/maintenance to owners.
    - BeetleB 5y ago
      > One way is a LLC where stock grants rights to single apartment. That is literally "corporations buying residential housing." It may be different than the ones in this story, but that's where the challenge in the law will be - how do you forbid/discourage one type of corporate ownership vs another type?
  - chordalkeyboard 5y ago
    they seem to pay maintenance on their homes regardless of mortgage....
salawat 5y ago
This is actually why Andrew Jackson was dead set on killing the National Bank. As soon as you have groups pooling money to snatch up land to rent, you sort of destroy one of the big draws of the American dream, because in the end, the market will adjust to the whims of the conglomerates instead of the lone citizen. This is exactly the outcome he was trying to avoid.
EliRivers 5y ago
Honestly can't see that happening; there's an enormous profit to be made in having most of the population rent. People will pay every penny they have for food, healthcare and somewhere to sleep. Letting ordinary people own houses instead of harvesting from them for their entire lives is just not profitable. The people could get together and make laws to protect themselves, and there's some whispering of this with recent attempts to form unions and so on, but against the political might of the rich, the people don't look to have much of a chance.

I think eventually we'll get to a point in the US where it's illegal for corporations to buy residential housing.

by clpm4j 5y ago

I think eventually we'll get to a point in the US where it's illegal for corporations to buy residential housing.

I dearly hope so. Housing is for people, not corporations. I would like to see the introduction of zoning laws that accomplish this.

namelessoracle 5y ago

I dont see private ownership of apartment buildings happening anytime soon. I worry we might see the opposite. Someone will be convinced the "solution" to the housing crisis is to just remove citizen ownership of housing to begin with.

kylehotchkiss 5y ago
Nobody is going to be willing to fork over the building maintenance fees (which will continue to increase over the years) after their mortgages are paid off.
- Ekaros 5y ago
  It is a cultural thing. Some countries have private ownership of apartment buildings to be very common. One way is a LLC where stock grants rights to single apartment. Then LLC charges monthly fee. Or even loans for larger renovations/maintenance to owners.
  - BeetleB 5y ago
    > One way is a LLC where stock grants rights to single apartment. That is literally "corporations buying residential housing." It may be different than the ones in this story, but that's where the challenge in the law will be - how do you forbid/discourage one type of corporate ownership vs another type?
- chordalkeyboard 5y ago
  they seem to pay maintenance on their homes regardless of mortgage....

salawat 5y ago

This is actually why Andrew Jackson was dead set on killing the National Bank. As soon as you have groups pooling money to snatch up land to rent, you sort of destroy one of the big draws of the American dream, because in the end, the market will adjust to the whims of the conglomerates instead of the lone citizen. This is exactly the outcome he was trying to avoid.

EliRivers 5y ago

Honestly can't see that happening; there's an enormous profit to be made in having most of the population rent. People will pay every penny they have for food, healthcare and somewhere to sleep. Letting ordinary people own houses instead of harvesting from them for their entire lives is just not profitable. The people could get together and make laws to protect themselves, and there's some whispering of this with recent attempts to form unions and so on, but against the political might of the rich, the people don't look to have much of a chance.