this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2023
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A Boring Dystopia
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Better to talk about how they shaped zoning laws and other procedural matters to block the development of new housing for decades and decades.
Sure, the market price of housing is disgustingly high and you can say that it's exploitative to actually charge it, but a much better question is to ask why the market price of housing got so high to begin with, because the answer to that is more complicated than landlords just asking for as much as they can get. They've always done that, so why as has that ceiling price exploded so much in recent decades? That's where you can start to find actual solutions.
Okay, but did something happen that suddenly made people become more greedy? Are people in West Virginia simply not greedy? Did NYC landlords have a brief change of heart in 2020 when they allowed prices to fall, only to suddenly rediscover greed in 2022?
Again, how did it come to pass that shelter became a commodity? What things changed that resulted in it becoming a productive investment?
Greed isn't a useful explanation because people have always been greedy and always will be.
did the US have more rent controlled areas in central business districts - i guess that would vary by state/county/city?
In the UK there was a lot more rent controls in 40s-60s ish (then varying a bit over 70s) but basically was abolished entirely in the (mid-late) 1980s.