4 ms·

If you believe profiting from housing is unethical, why did you buy and rent housing to tenants at a profit in the first place?

saghm 4y ago
Given how much later they seemed to have done it, I'd imagine either they didn't come to the conclusion about it being unethical until later, or needing the money at the time enough to do it anyways and later having enough financial safety to be able to pay it back.
- socialismisok 4y ago
  Both of those, actually. As I have become more financially stable myself, my opinions on the nature of wealth have evolved. I'm not the person I was 12 years ago both socially and financially. I'm lucky my career has worked out, it's given me opportunities to help others and really sit with the question, "what do I feel is right and moral?" Edit: I think I had read about someone doing this via hacker news, actually, and asked "what would it cost me to do the same"
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - bmmayer1 4y ago
    Pardon me saying so, but it seems awfully convenient to adopt morals only when you can afford them. What about people who aren't as well off as you are...do you think it's immoral for them to make a living from providing housing?
    - socialismisok 4y ago
      It wasn't the "can afford them" that changed my mind. I genuinely used to think "being a landlord is normal" until I had time to sit with it. While I sat with it, I did become more financially comfortable, but it wasn't the money that changed my mind. And yes, across all income levels, I do believe making a profit from housing others is immoral. But like, as long as we have major corporate landlords I'm not going to spend much thought on mom and pop landlords. If you are renting a spare room out it's like, "hey, I don't agree with what you are doing, but I understand it."
      - citizenpaul 4y ago
        I get many landlords are bad and the entire wealth extraction industry around it. However what other way is there to provide temporary housing for people that want it? My SO just got done with a residency for a year as an example, with no intent to permanently move there. The trouble of buying a house for a couple of years is more costly and time consuming than just renting. Living in a decent hotel for a couple of years would be crazy expensive and is illegal in many places.
        socialismisok 4y ago
        There are no easy answers, no silver bullets. We could cap rents, and limit the profit of rentals. We could limit the number of rental properties one company or individual can own. We could nationalize a bunch of housing. We could put more housing in community trusts. We could build more social housing. We could subsidize property owners who provide lots of high quality housing at below market rates to provide downward pressure on rental rates. There's a lot of different levers we could pull, none of them solve the problem, all of them introduce other challenges. But we could definitely make a better system than we have today (for renters and individuals. Less so for landlords.)
lupire 4y ago
It's easier to refund the overpayment than chase down underpayment.

saghm 4y ago

Given how much later they seemed to have done it, I'd imagine either they didn't come to the conclusion about it being unethical until later, or needing the money at the time enough to do it anyways and later having enough financial safety to be able to pay it back.

socialismisok 4y ago
Both of those, actually. As I have become more financially stable myself, my opinions on the nature of wealth have evolved. I'm not the person I was 12 years ago both socially and financially. I'm lucky my career has worked out, it's given me opportunities to help others and really sit with the question, "what do I feel is right and moral?" Edit: I think I had read about someone doing this via hacker news, actually, and asked "what would it cost me to do the same"
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- bmmayer1 4y ago
  Pardon me saying so, but it seems awfully convenient to adopt morals only when you can afford them. What about people who aren't as well off as you are...do you think it's immoral for them to make a living from providing housing?
  - socialismisok 4y ago
    It wasn't the "can afford them" that changed my mind. I genuinely used to think "being a landlord is normal" until I had time to sit with it. While I sat with it, I did become more financially comfortable, but it wasn't the money that changed my mind. And yes, across all income levels, I do believe making a profit from housing others is immoral. But like, as long as we have major corporate landlords I'm not going to spend much thought on mom and pop landlords. If you are renting a spare room out it's like, "hey, I don't agree with what you are doing, but I understand it."
    - citizenpaul 4y ago
      I get many landlords are bad and the entire wealth extraction industry around it. However what other way is there to provide temporary housing for people that want it? My SO just got done with a residency for a year as an example, with no intent to permanently move there. The trouble of buying a house for a couple of years is more costly and time consuming than just renting. Living in a decent hotel for a couple of years would be crazy expensive and is illegal in many places.
      - socialismisok 4y ago
        There are no easy answers, no silver bullets. We could cap rents, and limit the profit of rentals. We could limit the number of rental properties one company or individual can own. We could nationalize a bunch of housing. We could put more housing in community trusts. We could build more social housing. We could subsidize property owners who provide lots of high quality housing at below market rates to provide downward pressure on rental rates. There's a lot of different levers we could pull, none of them solve the problem, all of them introduce other challenges. But we could definitely make a better system than we have today (for renters and individuals. Less so for landlords.)

lupire 4y ago

It's easier to refund the overpayment than chase down underpayment.