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I had to move out of an apartment a few years ago and into a spare half-story at a friend's house. The apartment was attempting to raise my rent, while not to 1
by jacobgkau 2y ago
I had to move out of an apartment a few years ago and into a spare half-story at a friend's house. The apartment was attempting to raise my rent, while not to 100% of my income (yet), a significant amount. Their excuse was "that's the market rate now," and when I told them to F off and went to check other nearby apartments, they were correct, that was the "market rate."
I have absolutely zero doubt that if the government had paid me the difference they were trying to charge (as UBI or any other stipend), they would've raised the rate again by the same amount very quickly. In fact, going by the idea that supply & demand are what caused that (rather than simple landlord greed that I generally see it as), UBI definitely can't fix it, since UBI will not increase supply or decrease demand-- they'll still need to charge just enough that some people can't afford it in order for there to be "enough."
You're somewhat correct in that the solution (building more housing, I guess) is not really related to UBI.
- jimbokun 2y agoThis argument applies equally to never increasing anyone’s wages. If income goes up for anyone, rent will instantly rise to match the increase. (It’s not clear why this only applies to rent and not other things people spend money on.)
- llamaimperative 2y agoThis is correct, it does apply to all forms of wage increases. I wouldn't say "instantly," but yes that's why cities are perpetually expensive despite constantly increasing productivity. They are highly productive ergo they have high wages ergo they can sustain high rents ergo they have high rents ergo they "are expensive" compared to adjacent markets. Mentioned above but I'll put it here too for other readers: the reason rent is unique is that in high COL areas, it's driven primarily by the price of land which is has zero supply elasticity. Higher prices induce supply in all other forms of goods and services.
- jimbokun 2y agoHigh cost of housing and rent is driven just as much by regulations preventing new housing from being built.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- ako 2y agoRegulations are causing the fact that housing prices follow purchasing power of potential buyers: it causes a shortage in supply, which means supply side can dictate prices. Prices will be what buyers can afford. Just wait for the next recession, housing prices will fall, even with the same regulations.
- consteval 2y agoRent isn’t optional, most things are. For things that are optional, which is really a sliding scale, we do see consumers just stop consuming. I can’t not consume rent, that’s never an option.
- dllthomas 2y ago> UBI will not increase supply or decrease demand Actually, I contend that it can increase supply of "housing sufficiently near sufficient income" by improving some marginal (existing or potential) housing. Many devils in the details, of course.