this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
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Landlords should be outlawed. They provide no service to society, only harm
They're supposed to fill the gap for people who can't afford to buy, or for whom it doesn't make sense to do so (i.e. people in town on a temporary job).
The problem is that "landlords" these days are more towards the class of "investors" who expect rents to cover the cost of their mortgage plus additional profit
There are lots of ways that gap could be filled. Landlords exist to make profit by filling that gap. They have a financial incentive to maximize returns and minimize expenses, and have the leverage to do so to an exploitative degree.
Another way to accomplish that would be through cooperatives, which are non-profit corporations that exist to provide housing. They have a mandate to maximize utility to their tenants, and have no profit incentive leading them to exploit their tenants.
I wouldn't mind seeing more of those, but I do also remember a day when there were a lot more landlords who charged reasonable rates without becoming overpriced slumlords.
There's always incentive to "make a profit" but often enough it was just somebody who had extra space after the kids moved out etc and got a little extra pocket money or even just a slightly less "empty nest" feeling. Some lived in half the house (usually upstairs with a basement suite rented) and a smaller few did get another, smaller place while keeping the "family home" for their kids' return after university or whatever.
Then people started buying second, third, etc places as investments, and it became about "maximizing investment". These kinds act like sharks, while serial bad-tenants similarly preyed on the more nieve "good" landlords causing more of them to get out of renting.
Co-ops can definitely be part of the solution, but having better controls and adequate staffing at rental regulatory boards etc would be beneficial to both sides, as well as removing pure-profit incentives.
I've got a house currently but I'd be ok with seeing the so-called "market values" drop to something people can afford. I'd welcome better regulation on both sides so that my kids don't end up paying in gold for mold, but also so that I could potentially find somebody decent/trustworthy farther into the future that I could rent space to (in my home) even the kids move out - for a reasonable rate - without having to worry that they'll destroy the place and steal the plumbing the moment they move in while I wait on 12mo for arbitration.
Looking at the current rents people are asking, I'd say a "reasonable" rate would be Β½ or even β of what most are asking, but at the same time advertising low rents seems to attract a lot of sketchy people. It's crazy.
Public housing in the Viennese style is the proper way to handle this.
They are the reason why people cant afford to buy. Thats a looot of buildings going for sale if you get rid of landlords. Plummeted prices and mortgage payments. Then we should be focusing from the bottom up afterwards, make sure everyone has some place to live with public housing.
Always has been.
If you buy a 4plex for 2 million now, you have no choice to charge a high rent. But all the 8plex or 16plex from the 80s that are paid in full for years, there is no reason to go from 500$/month to 2000$/month just because
While I don't completely agree with an outright ban imo there should be strict limits to the amount of residential property a person or corporation can own.
No one should be making significant profit off of something so essential.
Make property ownership a shit investment.
Cap revenue from rent to 5-10%. Tax the living fuck out of empty properties so they'll take someone, anyone. Tax higher the more properties they own.
Also outright ban AirBnB and make it so corporations are not allowed to own houses.
Yes please, houses are for people, corporations have no business (heh) owning houses.
AirBnB is exacerbating the problem, they need to be regulated to hell or outright banned.
We should really crack down on Airbnbs. Why make $2000 a month by providing a place for someone to live when you can make $500 in one night from a tourist?
Landlords only buy property as an investment vehicle. You cant keep landlords and not have housing being a money making scheme.