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I don't think it'll happen at 100% as long as there's some reasonable form of competition for housing prices to stay somewhat lower. The problem in the US with

I don't think it'll happen at 100% as long as there's some reasonable form of competition for housing prices to stay somewhat lower. The problem in the US with our markets is that we have horrific situations for markets that lead to collusion, regulatory capture, etc. How UBI is funded matters more to me than UBI itself so most studies now mostly focus upon allaying the fears of the "but the poors will inefficiently use their UBI" projection / conjecture that is basically not supported by any evidence thus far across the globe. For example, national LVT to fund UBI is nothing like a national VAT. I'm not a silver bullet solution kind of person but LVT along with changes to how we fund and develop infrastructure along with our insane, inefficient transportation policies seems to be a large part of the problem with many cross-cutting concerns into real estate value and therefore rents.

erik_seaberg 4y ago
The housing shortages are in strong job markets. If living on UBI is an option, some people will move into lower cost areas where the vacancies are.
- mejutoco 4y ago
  Thank you. That makes sense. I wonder how much the scale would be different from the current remote work, plus at which point (if reached) those lower cost areas would start increasing in price. It is interesting too to think about second order effects of having most UBI and not working people live more in some areas.
- devonkim 4y ago
  Yeah, UBI of a certain amount makes it possible for lower income folks to move further from areas they normally wouldn’t. I saw some poor native person break down the costs of how they wouldn’t need to live near a major metro anymore off of solely $12k / year. Healthcare is important of course but you can’t buy food and shelter with your healthcare unless you go to an emergency room. Hell, I’ve heard stories of some people that will go to emergency rooms and fake some symptoms just to get a bed and a meal. That’s just so damn sad and wildly inefficient uses of systems already overloaded. And really, so many problems in health for poor people come from lack of hope and/or money which BI trials have shown are drastically improved. Long-term I have few doubts that (U)BI will improve health outcomes in aggregate even without any adjustments to the rather shitty US system. Having a lot of the poor simply leave these metro areas can reduce some demand for lower income housing as well as increase wages for the lower skill jobs of a region - it’s been shown repeatedly throughout the past few years in every country basically and how the stimulus checks didn’t do anything to rents either. When our poor don’t stomp on each other they can get some better market leverage through indirect collective action.

erik_seaberg 4y ago

The housing shortages are in strong job markets. If living on UBI is an option, some people will move into lower cost areas where the vacancies are.

mejutoco 4y ago
Thank you. That makes sense. I wonder how much the scale would be different from the current remote work, plus at which point (if reached) those lower cost areas would start increasing in price. It is interesting too to think about second order effects of having most UBI and not working people live more in some areas.
devonkim 4y ago
Yeah, UBI of a certain amount makes it possible for lower income folks to move further from areas they normally wouldn’t. I saw some poor native person break down the costs of how they wouldn’t need to live near a major metro anymore off of solely $12k / year. Healthcare is important of course but you can’t buy food and shelter with your healthcare unless you go to an emergency room. Hell, I’ve heard stories of some people that will go to emergency rooms and fake some symptoms just to get a bed and a meal. That’s just so damn sad and wildly inefficient uses of systems already overloaded. And really, so many problems in health for poor people come from lack of hope and/or money which BI trials have shown are drastically improved. Long-term I have few doubts that (U)BI will improve health outcomes in aggregate even without any adjustments to the rather shitty US system. Having a lot of the poor simply leave these metro areas can reduce some demand for lower income housing as well as increase wages for the lower skill jobs of a region - it’s been shown repeatedly throughout the past few years in every country basically and how the stimulus checks didn’t do anything to rents either. When our poor don’t stomp on each other they can get some better market leverage through indirect collective action.