Corporations aren't the reason your rent is too high

https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/corporations-arent-the-reason-your

by lanfeust6 • 11 months ago

14 18 11 months ago

noahpinion.blog

cosmicgadget4• 11 months ago

I’m not sure I see the political logic there, but I guess I’m not much of an expert on politics.

...

[Proceeds to do nothing but knock down political strawmen]

lanfeust68• 11 months ago

I guess actual quotes from online are strawmen?

cosmicgadget4• 11 months ago

I mean yes if you are intending to say they represent some consensus.

grafmax4• 11 months ago

Remarkable that investor-owned multi-family housing is left out of these analyses. Surely that contributes to housing supply and should factor into any such analysis of pricing power among investors. For example, about 44% of California households rent.

Additionally looking at national averages is misleading. Investor pricing power can exist in individual markets without being ubiquitous across the nation. The allegations made against RealPage are a notable example, if true.

A more insidious issue besides just pricing power among investors is the direction of cash flow. When you rent, cash is paid to the owner. When you take out a mortgage, interest is paid to the bank. These are both mechanisms for rentier capitalists to extract cash from those with less - by paying for a basic need - essentially wealth redistribution in the wrong direction.

lanfeust68• 11 months ago

If investors aren't corporations, they're mom and pop. Since vacancy rates are very low in cities, this means they're renting out. If they didn't, you'd have even more shortage and rising rents. Californian cities like San Fransisco also have rent control which further constrains supply.

It seems like your gripe about cash flow is that people pay anything at all. Nevermind that wealth does get redistributed for those who have less income (in various ways), and they also pay less.

Fanciful ideas aside there's plenty of evidence that increasing supply of housing lowers prices

grafmax4• 11 months ago

wealth does get redistributed for those who have less income

Wealth inequality continues to increase. These measures are insufficient.

The best effect that YIMBY can have on housing is to put a slight downward pressure on prices. Prices can still go up, and often do, in locations where YIMBY is adopted. That’s because it’s a superficial measure that does not address the structural cause. Slightly lower prices cannot house the growing homeless population for example - slightly lower prices can never house people without money.

“Abundance” makes a gesture toward the housing crisis without addressing the structural cause - wealth inequality. It’s appealing to its billionaire supporters for exactly this reason. We need effective public housing that the wealthy finance through their taxes.

nielsbot• 11 months ago

Slightly less convincing since the article doesn't spell out what the actual reason is. Anybody have any answer for that?

lanfeust68• 11 months ago

Constrained/inelastic supply of housing in the face of growing demand. Either the demand gets moderated (lower influx of people in cities) or you have to build more. The constraints are exacerbated by zoning and regulations.

mritterhoff• 11 months ago

The weaponization of zoning laws. It's literally illegal to build the housing people want and need thanks to them. Every US city needs zoning reform, to get rid of height maximums, parking minimums, and Single Family Only zoning.

Corporations aren't the reason your rent is too high

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