GeePawHillGeePawHill@mastodon.social
Oct 11, 2026, 3:51 AMReminder: There is no *physical* shortage of housing anywhere in the United States. We don't actually need more buildings. We need fewer landlords.
Replies
Steven A. Leachstevenaleach@universeodon.comOct 11, 2026, 5:18 AM@GeePawHill To some extent, yea? But also we haven't built any "lower end"/small housing in many decades. In most markets there are hardly *any* houses/units with just enough room for a single person.
I'm delighted to have finally found a nice *tiny* efficiency unit -- 128 square feet -- A place with just enough room for me, and I can actually afford to heat the place.
But a unit this size is *super* rare in most of the US. We just don't have small units, or "starter houses" anymore in the US. All that exist are older stock (the building I live in was built in 1976, which is on the new end for smaller housing stock).
The industry has been building bigger and bigger stuff for so long that we've not been replacing any of the smaller stuff.
- GeePawHillGeePawHill@mastodon.socialOct 11, 2026, 5:37 AM
@stevenaleach The contention I'm taking is this: there *are* those units. There are whole *houses*. They are empty, cuz landlords can't make enough money from owning them.
Kredkakrdkpl@mastodon.socialOct 11, 2026, 6:09 AM@GeePawHill Why there is so little talk about tax from owning more than f.ex. more than 3 houses?
Oct 11, 2026, 8:25 AM@GeePawHill Replace “the U.S.” with any country where there are housing problems and sky-high rental or purchase prices due to speculation and vacation rentals.
Oct 11, 2026, 8:25 AM@GeePawHill same here in Spain.
Evelyn Octavia •̀ ᴗ -EvelynOctavia@c.imOct 11, 2026, 8:29 AM@GeePawHill but why are we renting houses to begin with? Because those are so expensive!
Nantucket Litnantucketlit@mastodon.socialOct 11, 2026, 9:02 AM@GeePawHill In my travels around Colorado, I've often been struck by the sight of houses near the ski resorts, which likely sit empty for eleven months out of the year.
Master Shake 🥤squishberry@mastodon.worldOct 11, 2026, 3:49 PM@GeePawHill
Not the case for the city I live in.But yes, if you take the country as a whole.
JackMexJackMexa4@mastodon.socialOct 11, 2026, 3:54 PMWe might end up with 3 landlords, like in media.
Banning corporations from owning housing would be better.
Oct 11, 2026, 4:09 PM@GeePawHill To elaborate on that, we need fewer rent-seekers, that are all essentially parasitic upon beneficial economic activity, of which residential property landlords are a particularly common and easily emulated example.
One experimental way to verify if someone is a rent-seeker is as follows:
1. Measure economic activity.
2. Kill the test subject; tie up the estate in probate.
3. Re-measure economic activity.
4. If metrics improve, the subject was a rent-seeker.Landlord is not a job.
Oct 12, 2026, 12:16 AM@GeePawHill last I checked, there were 19 vacant homes for every 1 homeless person in the U.S.