this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2023
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Te Wai Pounamu / South Island

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Open the URL, I self-hosted a zip file with 9 photos so you don't have to visit a website that's filled with ads.

http://rentingcrisis.nz/forum/images/chalk/activism.zip

I wrote in 20 locations around riccarton and ilam. Most of my chalk was on riccarton road or perhaps 50 metres into a side street.

Please share this file.

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[–] Venat0r 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

A better way to post multiple images would be to post them in the comments. I ain't downloading your zip file lol.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

And they think they're doing an activism writing on the sidewalk. They look like a nutter.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago

It fails to upload as a comment and I'm not going to resize every single file (assuming that's the issue). Sorry if you're on mobile and don't have a real computer.

[–] Alteon 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I have a proposed fix for this. Hear me out. We increase the property tax by all homes owned by someone by 1% per home for the first 3 homes, and 2-3% for each home owned beyond that.

This will allow people to still purchase a second home (and a possible vacation home), whilst still being able to rent out one or make repairs prior to selling. This will vastly remove the profitability of a homeownership, and instead become a vanity vehicle for the Uber rich to only own homes for themselves vs renting (it would no longer make sense to own 6+ homes as the cost would VASTLY outweigh the income on rental units).

In New Zealand alone this would free up a minimum of around 200,000+ homes within the next 2 years.

In an effort to remove loopholes, homeownership (single-dwelling units) can no longer be owned by business entities, and homes counted towards this tax would also derive from dependents so you can't just "gift" 2-3 homes to each one of your <18y.o. children.

If anyone can think of anything else, I'm open to suggestions...

[–] Venat0r 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Increase the tax by 1% per home, so if you own 101 homes, 101% tax.

[–] Alteon 1 points 1 year ago

The alternative is that we cap it at like 30% or something. It'd still be stupid expensive, and wouldn't be worth it as an investment or passive income anymore.

[–] Alteon 1 points 1 year ago

Exactly. Make it financially impossible to own that many homes, or atleast make it a money pit. If your a billionaire, I guess you could conceivably do it, but it wouldn't be worth it.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sounds like a good way to make renting a house almost impossible.

[–] Alteon 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Then maybe we figure out a way to control the rent as well? That way it's tied to the worth of the house and not to the mortgage+taxes? This way, increased taxes only hurt the owner, not the renter.

[–] SirQuackTheDuck 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

In the Netherlands we have two categories of rental homes: social and "free".

Social ones have a rental price cap set by the government based on a point system (more points = higher max rent). These points are a reflection of the value given to living there. Dishwasher? That's a bunch of points, separate garden? More points. It's not perfect, but it's helping a whole bunch.

If your house is being rented for more than a certain amount per month, you're in the free section. No real requirements are present there. Renters still have very strong protections from landlord abuse through.

If you're to implement a cascading tax system which increases per house, the second group would be the one I'd target. Social housing isn't very profitable and is therefore mostly run by non-profits.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

This is the most Lemmy thing I've seen in a while.

[–] Alteon 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The issue is that a LOT of people have their retirement based off of this system. They've worked their whole lives to achieve what they've seen as a fantastic, almost fundamental, way of providing for yourself in retirement. I don't want to hurt these people, even if they make up a sizable portion of the landlords. They are not the problem.

I'm trying to target the people that own 3+ houses, and if you can eliminate the money-making aspect of homeownership, you fix a big problem causing the housing crisis right now.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It wouldn't say it's a lot. Most rentals are held in portfolios with 3+ properties - the idea that the rental market is mostly 'Mum and dad investors' is a myth.

Nearly half the population rent. That's the bigger retirement crisis, people are spending massive amounts on rent, which has the double whammy of locking people out of affording a house of their own, and impacts their ability to save for retirement.

[–] Venat0r 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

If we had UBI they wouldn't need the retirement income.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

NZ superannuation is a basic income for all above age 65.

[–] Alteon 1 points 1 year ago

Even with UBI, people will always want more money if they are able to get it. UBI unfortunately wouldn't solve this issue. UBI needs to get passed though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Honestly sounds like a lot of mahi for not a lot of result. Calling people "parasites" is also unlikely to win you many friends.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My website stats are not that great even after all my effort. I'm glad I gave it a go and set an example, because some people supported me. One guy shouted out to me "bro you're right, landlords ARE parasites". So, most people don't say it out loud, but there are people who agree with me. I was between the university and Ilam New World writing with my chalk, and a group of students walked past. One girl just said "FACTS". They got the message :)

Most New Zealanders are neither here nor there, they just wander aimlessly through life with a passive attitude like NPCs in a computer game. I'm not trying to win over those who are entirely passive "go with the flow, yeah nah bro" kinds of fools. If a few good people saw my chalk and laughed, then it was worth it. I don't care about the unwashed masses who are willing to accept any amount of abuse from landlords or the government. The type of person who rents, but is indifferent to my cause, I ignore them. These people will be the first to line up at the edge of a trench and take a bullet to the back of the head, willingly, if there was an authoritarian government. I'm the person who has to be assassinated or black-bagged first thing because I'm the person who agitates the second tier.

Put it like this:

  1. agitators and potential leaders: these people get pissed off first and take action.
  2. future activists: they see the actions of the above, and eventually become a type of activist themselves.
  3. supporters: they agree with the message but rarely take part in anything, besides agreeing with the message.
  4. lemmings: this is the bottom tier, they are totally indifferent. They will occasionally grumble about the cost of living, but they are happy to be taken advantage of. The lemming never does anything to help the cause, and will even grumble about those who take action.
[–] Mojojojo1993 1 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

OK, so I had a look at the 00s web forum that is renting crisis.nz, and all but one post there had the last post by Jeff, who I'm assuming is you.

You spent your day writing on the sidewalk like a child, in an attempt to lure people to your web forum, where 90% of the post activity is you.

Just incredible.

[–] RegalPotoo 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

phpBB on cPanel, man that takes me back

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Fun fact: Kbin is written in php!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

web forums are awesome though, it beats the hell out of discord or whatever gen z is obsessed with.

not my problem that kiwis are so quiet and passive and don't post.