• Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
    1·
    6 months ago

    I’ll codify my position: housing should be a human right. Either the government should pay for rent (up to some value) or the government should control the property and not charge rent. It’s not that hard to understand. We easily have enough money in this nation to do this.

    Check out “What is Property.” Land is something that all humans need to live, whether that’s for shelter, food, or water. How did these people come to own land? It’d be absurd to suggest they could own air and charge rent for it, right? Why can they do so for land? Land ownership was made up by governments by saying they control it and selling it, removing it from the commons into private control, giving the people nothing in return.

    • solstice@lemmy.world
      1·
      6 months ago

      the government should control the property and not charge rent. It’s not that hard to understand

      Yes it is hard to understand because we are having this conversation despite it being a ridiculous idea. If the gov controls the property and doesn’t charge rent, it doesn’t lower the cost. The value of that property doesn’t go away. It just changes hands from the private owner into the gov agency (or worse, agent) who controls who gets to live there. Imagine a neighborhood where everything costs $10k/month to live there, but you control who gets to live in that one place that costs $1,000/month. Think of how powerful a position that is. The value of that rental property didn’t magically disappear just because the government waived its magic wand and said so. Economics doesn’t work that way, and it’s really frustrating talking to people who don’t get this. You can’t solve these issues by decree.