4 ms·

The fix is for the city to be the builder, like it is in Vienna. The City of Vienna is the largest landlord in Europe. It is also the only major European capit

by vrganj 5d ago

The fix is for the city to be the builder, like it is in Vienna. The City of Vienna is the largest landlord in Europe. It is also the only major European capital without a rent cost crisis.

specproc 5d ago
Similarly UK cities built their own housing, up until Thatcher and Right to Buy. Costs spiralled out of control after that. Most urgent intervention required in the UK, IMO. We're choking to death on the cost of housing.
fileeditview 5d ago
You would think that people could learn from examples. Sadly it rarely happens.
- spwa4 5d ago
  The example here being that they would pay a lot more city tax, never own a home, and over a period of decades this would make rent prices go down. If this is what people want, then it seems like the right solution. Short term the only change will be increased taxes and maybe a few lucky renters getting apartments with the number slowly increasing over years and years. Which is pretty much the situation in Vienna (rents are low in Vienna, but for the 20% that get city-owned apartments the rents are very low. Quality is ... let's call it "very old", and there's no choice (can't move up if you have a kid, say). Then housing associations pay like 30% more but less than private. Private rents are about double city-owned apartments as they're called. Only way to become a city renter is to earn less than 58000 in a given year, then wait 5+ years).
MrMember 5d ago
The fix is to let the companies who want to build, build. For some reason a lot of cities won't support new construction if a private company might make a profit on it.
- blahblaher 5d ago
  Most private construction is dedicated to luxury condos because that's where the big money is. If you let the "market" decide on its own it will always decide on the most profitable items, even if that's not what is needed.
  - vrganj 5d ago
    Yes. The market is a great optimizer, sure, but the question is always what do you actually want to optimize for? And that might not always be the same optimization function as a market.
  - aurareturn 5d ago
    Define "needed". Those luxury condos will still have people living in them whether it's a renter or owner.
    - vrganj 5d ago
      Well, that's what a democracy should be used to decide, since people might have different things they want to optimize for. Personally, I believe Berlin has more issues with a lack of affordable housing than with a lack of luxury condos.
      - bluecalm 5d ago
        Adding luxury housing helps with supply of affordable housing. Just a few citations I quickly googled: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0094119021000656 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00941... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119022001048 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009411902... https://archive.is/2026.02.23-212725/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/02/housing-crisis-rich-poor-building/686086/ https://archive.is/2026.02.23-212725/https://www.theatlantic...
        vrganj 5d ago

by vrganj 5d ago

The fix is for the city to be the builder, like it is in Vienna. The City of Vienna is the largest landlord in Europe. It is also the only major European capital without a rent cost crisis.

specproc 5d ago

Similarly UK cities built their own housing, up until Thatcher and Right to Buy. Costs spiralled out of control after that. Most urgent intervention required in the UK, IMO. We're choking to death on the cost of housing.

fileeditview 5d ago

You would think that people could learn from examples. Sadly it rarely happens.

spwa4 5d ago
The example here being that they would pay a lot more city tax, never own a home, and over a period of decades this would make rent prices go down. If this is what people want, then it seems like the right solution. Short term the only change will be increased taxes and maybe a few lucky renters getting apartments with the number slowly increasing over years and years. Which is pretty much the situation in Vienna (rents are low in Vienna, but for the 20% that get city-owned apartments the rents are very low. Quality is ... let's call it "very old", and there's no choice (can't move up if you have a kid, say). Then housing associations pay like 30% more but less than private. Private rents are about double city-owned apartments as they're called. Only way to become a city renter is to earn less than 58000 in a given year, then wait 5+ years).

MrMember 5d ago

The fix is to let the companies who want to build, build. For some reason a lot of cities won't support new construction if a private company might make a profit on it.

blahblaher 5d ago
Most private construction is dedicated to luxury condos because that's where the big money is. If you let the "market" decide on its own it will always decide on the most profitable items, even if that's not what is needed.
- vrganj 5d ago
  Yes. The market is a great optimizer, sure, but the question is always what do you actually want to optimize for? And that might not always be the same optimization function as a market.
- aurareturn 5d ago
  Define "needed". Those luxury condos will still have people living in them whether it's a renter or owner.
  - vrganj 5d ago
    Well, that's what a democracy should be used to decide, since people might have different things they want to optimize for. Personally, I believe Berlin has more issues with a lack of affordable housing than with a lack of luxury condos.
    - bluecalm 5d ago
      Adding luxury housing helps with supply of affordable housing. Just a few citations I quickly googled: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0094119021000656 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00941... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119022001048 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009411902... https://archive.is/2026.02.23-212725/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/02/housing-crisis-rich-poor-building/686086/ https://archive.is/2026.02.23-212725/https://www.theatlantic...
      - vrganj 5d ago