Yimby: "We should build more houses to address the housing crisis."
Leftist: "So people can live in them at-cost, right?"
Yimby: putting on his landlord hat
Leftist: "... Right?"
this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2024
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Unfortunately I think its unrealistic to hope for something that doesn't take profits into consideration as things stand now. Also, while I agree rents have gone FAAARRRRRR beyond any practical purposes, some people do forget "at cost" includes extra to cover maintenance and taxes.
some people do forget “at cost” includes extra to cover maintenance and taxes.
Taxes are a function of property value. One of the more ugly moral hazards of the last few decades has been municipal governments hungrily consuming the enormous tax windfalls of exploding property prices while residents are forced to pick up the tab for more and more privatized municipal services.
The same house jumping from $150k to $600k doesn't translate into roads that are 4x nicer or drainage 4x better managed or schools 4x more well-funded. It just floods into the pockets of municipal cronies and private contractors, for mayoral vanity projects. Selling property "at-cost" would keep the tax rates down. But high ranking city officials don't want cheap land in their city. That cuts into their slush funds.
So we see city officials tacitly encourage these exploding housing costs, while residents are priced out of homes they could have easily afforded even during the 2008 housing peak.
I dont disagree but that doesn't change the fact that A- taxes are a thing and therefore a cost that has to be factored in, and B- Even if we fix the tax system it would still be a necessity.
Fixing broken systems is important and WOULD help people find housing, but arguing for utopia or bust is only going to let things get worse as you bicker about the details of municipal spending (which again I do agree on but we ALSO need to work within the system we have now to help people for whom this isn't theoretical internet banter..)
A- taxes are a thing and therefore a cost that has to be factored in
I will spend less on Taxes + Mortgage for a house sold at-cost than on Mortgage alone on a house sold at a 4x markup.
B- Even if we fix the tax system it would still be a necessity.
The issue isn't the tax system, its the incentives of public officials. When you can generate personal income off the professional tax base, via privatization, you are incentivized to behave as a corrupt bureaucrat. This leads to both higher housing prices (because you want more money with which to be corrupt) and more hostility towards those taxes (because you're seeing the money go into the pockets of corrupt officials, rather than into the maintenance of community property).
arguing for utopia or bust is only going to let things get worse
I don't think identifying moral hazard in a system is utopian. If anything, I think it is vital to reversing negative trends. If you can't recognize why municipal officials would resist public housing and subsidize artificially high real estate costs, you're never going to see the path towards getting those corrupt officials out and reversing the trends.
If "the foxes have always guarded the hen house and asking for anything else is utopian" is your response... Idk, buddy. What do you think happens next?
Ironically, the cop isn't a pig.
And the rich fatcat isn't a cat.
Seems like someone accidentally swapped the roles when they were brainstorming this... internet comic
Ha ha, boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.
Shitpost or fact??
Came here to ask the same. No idea why this is a shitpost
op is a landlord
Bravo. Well played.
Fyi Pork bbq is good stuff
I am starting to plan my suicide.
I hope you procrastinate as much as possible
Do it to a landlord instead, get free room and board for the rest of your life.
And all the love you'll never want
If you are serious and then you have nothing to lose: Look up adversarial occupation.
Squat in a rich dudes house long enough and its yours. Might be fun to try.
I need to do something, otherwise I'm having the equivalent of a destination wedding somewhere with easy access to prescription medication. It's a scary proposition but this is not an economic system I fit into, and I can't think of anything else to do.
I fully get you the world is nuts right now. I just don't want you making a permanent decision to solve a problem that may only turn out to be temporary.
I've been shit on and underemployed my entire life due to the way I was born so I get the pain and desperation and I've been down very similar dark paths in the past. I mean I'm not trying to compare, right now your pain ins objectively the most immediate and imminent.
And I wish I had better solutions for you, the ones I found might not work for others and I wouldn't exactly call myself 'thriving' but I get by better than a lot of people in this wealth divided country.
Maybe I can offer better insight if you detail more of what's going on. I'm not a crisis counselor but I've lived through enough crises that I know to use the word 'crises', so that has to count for something. You really sound in a stuck place, tell me about your rocks if you feel up to it. You can even PM me if you prefer.
Honestly, it helps hearing I'm not alone in what I'm experiencing. I wouldn't know where to start with the rest.
A good free resource is NAMI, google them for your area, you can talk to someone free who has training on these kinds of things. They might not be able to directly help you, but they will point you in the direction of those who can.
Don't give up, skeleton!
Wait and hope. I've long struggled with suicidal ideation, and I continue to work on it. I don't know you and I know you're not asking for for suggestions, but I can't see someone else struggling this way and say nothing.
The economic system is fucked, so fitting in is not necessarily a good thing. "It's no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." I know there are real financial pressures and struggles, I don't mean to minimize that, but thinking "I will participate as little as necessary" instead of "I'm not doing well at their game" has helped me find a sense of worth outside "success." Without you our team gets smaller. I think there are a lot of us, we just haven't had great ways to organize, but I see even being able to connect here on lemmy as a reason to hope.
As for what to do, doing nothing is better than doing something in an unjust system. Some of the things that have helped me: going to the library and walking the isles looking subjects that interest you (while we're on the subject, might I recommend "How to do Nothing" by Jenny Odell); Finding a natural space or park that you can go for a quiet walk; Working on personal projects, drawing, writing, etc which can come from and feed into time at the library.
I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds. I know when you're feeling hopeless, suggestions can feel like a condescending nuisance. I hope this is not that. I hope you hang on. We need more people who can see this is bullshit.
A solid retirement plan.
I don't even have a career to retire from, I'm squarely in the precariat despite my MSc, apparently I'm not an economically valuable individual.
Upvote because it's a good meme or downvote because discussion on the instance will be heavily censored?
For all the whining about being censored and banned there sure always seems to be a while lot of you following ml instances just to cry about them being ml.
following ml instances
All - Top Six Hours.
You're whining that people complain about censorship?
If you were being censored we wouldn't be having this conversation. Y'all mistake "censorship" with "moderation" and I bet if i went to your favorite communities with the same energy y'all go to ml instances with I'd get moderated too (but you'd cheer when THEY do it of course.)
Did they base the pig on Kevin O'Leary?
That must be one incredible basement!
Or in NYC, a mold-infested roach hotel where someone probably drowned during the flooding a few years back.
Homes get dramatically cheaper as you move away from cities. Particularly if you have a remote work job, it is something to heavily consider.
As the home prices go down, the probability that you'll be able to find decent healthcare, education, and basically any businesses that consistently stay open outside of 9-5 weekdays goes with them
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Good schools are kinda all over the place. There are good and bad ones in cities and good and bad ones outside of cities.
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Certainly less businesses open super late, that moreso depends on what you want out of things. For example, most of my friends play video games at home and meet up to go hiking, canoeing, etc, none of which require stores to be open very late.
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For healthcare, yeah, you might need to drive slightly further for a specialist, but it rarely is an issue; and is certainly something you can look for. Though, for me at least, having the extra money to afford the specialist easily outweighs the longer drive when I need one. Not so great healthcare access at my income level if all of it is going to rent and none leftover for healthcare.
Anyway, point is, it's going to depend on the person and what you most desire. It is important to not dismiss alternatives off-hand when they can solve the largest monetary issue in your life.
Particularly if you have a remote work ~~job~~ entire rest of your career
If you move out of the city to work remote, then you'll have to keep working remotely for as long as you own the house.
Don't threaten me with a good time!
haha my sister lives so far out in the sticks that you can see the milky way clearly and the rent around her is still 1.3k+ for a ROOM
Not anymore. You have to go into the deep rural area where Internet access and such are a problem. NYT went to Kalamazoo to illustrate this.