4 ms·

I wonder if making it a human right would allow court challenges to zoning, parking minimums, draconian architectural rules, etc.

wincy 2y ago
I want to invoke my human right to live in a place with the population density of the late great Kowloon Walled City. Less glibly, just by cutting regulations I’m sure you could get affordable housing in a place like Toronto, but wow the people who think housing is a human right would howl and scream about 10m^2 apartment high rises. I got the 10m^2 number from the size of some Tokyo apartments. The average apartment size in Toronto, by contrast is ~60m^2.
- appreciatorBus 2y ago
  “Cutting regulations” implies the current rules are intended to produce good outcomes, for instance, abundant large apartments for all. If that were true, I would agree with your skepticism, but I would urge you to consider that they might not be. The history of land use suggests that they were explicitly designed to exclude, and designed to raise housing costs. Early boosters in the 1920’s were not shy about saying that increasing housing costs was the goal. We should celebrate ridding ourselves of such “regulations”
- eschaton 2y ago
  Achieving this by cutting regulation would get you the other aspects of Kowloon Walled City too, the more horrifying ones.
- seanmcdirmid 2y ago
  2-3 tatami mats (95 sqf, < 9 sqm) sized apartments would be a great idea for kids who just need housing. Most people in the USA would still demand heat and bathroom in the apartment, or maybe just in the same building. There are apartments in Tokyo that lack heat and a shower in the same building, shared toilet, you go to the local bath house if you want to take a shower. This kind of housing could prevent lots of single people from falling into homelessness and probably drugs (but they can't keep a dog or cohabitate, and it doesn't really work for families).
eschaton 2y ago
That’s exactly what’s meant by “make housing a human right”—the law, at all levels, would need to comport with its protection.
darioush 2y ago
It doesn't need to be a human right, we just need to regulate housing to be owned by individuals and mandate a limit for how many residences one has. This is because due to the scarcity of homes and that they cannot be manipulated or printed out of thin air and lent short on a computer, they have become tools of speculation, so the regulation is justified.

wincy 2y ago

I want to invoke my human right to live in a place with the population density of the late great Kowloon Walled City. Less glibly, just by cutting regulations I’m sure you could get affordable housing in a place like Toronto, but wow the people who think housing is a human right would howl and scream about 10m^2 apartment high rises. I got the 10m^2 number from the size of some Tokyo apartments. The average apartment size in Toronto, by contrast is ~60m^2.

appreciatorBus 2y ago
“Cutting regulations” implies the current rules are intended to produce good outcomes, for instance, abundant large apartments for all. If that were true, I would agree with your skepticism, but I would urge you to consider that they might not be. The history of land use suggests that they were explicitly designed to exclude, and designed to raise housing costs. Early boosters in the 1920’s were not shy about saying that increasing housing costs was the goal. We should celebrate ridding ourselves of such “regulations”
eschaton 2y ago
Achieving this by cutting regulation would get you the other aspects of Kowloon Walled City too, the more horrifying ones.
seanmcdirmid 2y ago
2-3 tatami mats (95 sqf, < 9 sqm) sized apartments would be a great idea for kids who just need housing. Most people in the USA would still demand heat and bathroom in the apartment, or maybe just in the same building. There are apartments in Tokyo that lack heat and a shower in the same building, shared toilet, you go to the local bath house if you want to take a shower. This kind of housing could prevent lots of single people from falling into homelessness and probably drugs (but they can't keep a dog or cohabitate, and it doesn't really work for families).

eschaton 2y ago

That’s exactly what’s meant by “make housing a human right”—the law, at all levels, would need to comport with its protection.

darioush 2y ago

It doesn't need to be a human right, we just need to regulate housing to be owned by individuals and mandate a limit for how many residences one has. This is because due to the scarcity of homes and that they cannot be manipulated or printed out of thin air and lent short on a computer, they have become tools of speculation, so the regulation is justified.