A housing system that serves all but one group is not in a state of crisis; it is one based on structural inequality and economic exploitation.
While I agree that supply is only part of the problem, I find this article just vaguely blames capitalism without providing any real solutions.
Is it capitalism to blame or the lack of controls on who can own how many rental properties?
I agree, some proposed solutions would be good, but it’s also an excerpt from a longer work that could include some.
Isn’t capitalism the cause of the lack of controls though? People with money lobbying the government to do things in their favour, and government officials with financial stake in making sure nothing changes?
I feel like the smart and humanitarian thing to do would be to make it so that whenever homelessness is above a preset inescapable amount such as 2%, or when there are more renters than homeowners, that it should be heavily fined and taxed for corporations and businesses to own more than a single home dwelling for rent purposes.
I for one favor a progressive tax on corporate ownership of single family dwellings (1-4 family residences) where the penalty for owning these dwellings is equal to an increase in tax at the federal level at 100% * the number of dwellings owned by the business.
So when you have companies that own a thousand homes they would have to pay a thousand times the annual property taxes on each of those homes in order to keep them.
Of course, you don’t just dump this on the market. You passed the rule, give them 2 years to prepare themselves and then roll out the taxes at an increase of 10% * the number of houses per year until they are at the 100% mark.
That would cause all of these businesses to liquidate the homes back into the market and allow prices to come down gradually so that individuals could own and purchase the homes while also generating a significant amount of tax revenue.
That in my opinion would be the easiest and most surefire way to solve the homelessness crisis without exploding the real estate market or causing any kind of major recession.
