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Were they illegally built without a permit? Then they should be demolished. Were they built with a permit? Then either it wasn't obvious they shouldn't have bee

Were they illegally built without a permit? Then they should be demolished. Were they built with a permit? Then either it wasn't obvious they shouldn't have been built (and then why would the homeowners be responsible for these kind of works?) or there was corruption (and then the relevant persons should be condemned). But privately built seawalls to protect the coast? That seems out of proportion, and unlikely to produce positive results on the long term. In the same area I'm talking about, people died in flooding during cyclone Xynthia, in 2010. It wasn't because of a particular weakness in the seawall, it was found that these homes should never have been built in the first place. But they had been built legally, with permits obtained from the town, so 700 of these homes were bought (by the state, not sure exactly which levels the funds came from but France is a unitary state so it doesn't matter much) and demolished. And the mayor who granted the obviously bogus permits was sentenced to prison for the 29 deaths he caused.

sp332 3y ago
The houses were built 100 years ago, when the ocean was hundreds of feet further away. If you asked the builders, I'm sure they would have told you that this would happen in a century or so. Erosion of sandy beaches isn't a surprise.
pixl97 3y ago
In theory, yes hundreds of billions (maybe trillions of dollars) in houses and building need purchased and destroyed in the US. This will not happen. Houses/businesses near beaches tend to be of higher value and owned by the more politically connected. Any political talk of "We're not going to insure it and we'll let it fall in the ocean" means new people getting elected next election. It's also worse than that in the US. We're permitting and allowing things that will fail, and have no means of funding those costs of buyout or replacement in the future. As long as people remain ignorant and keep voting themselves largess the cost of the problem will continue to grow.

sp332 3y ago

The houses were built 100 years ago, when the ocean was hundreds of feet further away. If you asked the builders, I'm sure they would have told you that this would happen in a century or so. Erosion of sandy beaches isn't a surprise.

pixl97 3y ago

In theory, yes hundreds of billions (maybe trillions of dollars) in houses and building need purchased and destroyed in the US. This will not happen. Houses/businesses near beaches tend to be of higher value and owned by the more politically connected. Any political talk of "We're not going to insure it and we'll let it fall in the ocean" means new people getting elected next election. It's also worse than that in the US. We're permitting and allowing things that will fail, and have no means of funding those costs of buyout or replacement in the future. As long as people remain ignorant and keep voting themselves largess the cost of the problem will continue to grow.