this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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Houses and similar private property should be owned by the state and be given out to those in need for free, rather than owned by private individuals to sell/rent and make a profit. It's literally a basic human need that's becoming less and less accessible due to greed (constantly rising prices and scams landlords might try to pull), and it's very easy to just lose one if you're unfortunate enough to be unemployed for a longer period of time.
They did that in the Soviet Union. The government stuffed people into ugly, tiny apartments, with multiple families per apartment. I once talked to a guy whose single mom was forced to live with a violent drunk in one of those apartments. Sounds awful.
The problem with this idea is, what if the state is controlled by unsavoury people? I know that is kind of a hard thing to imagine, but just humour me and assume it's possible.
It gives far too much power to too few people.
If the state is controlled by unsavory people, then you probably have bigger issues at hand than them controlling the housing.
If the government is extremely authoritarian where being a political dissident puts you at risk of persecution, then you wouldn't be able to stay at your home regardless. If the government is extremely corrupt and hand out the best apartments to their inner circle while leaving everything else to others, then it would still be an improvement to the current system, at least in my eyes.
Point is, there are far more effective ways to mess with people you don't like if you're a state controlled by unsavory people. That being said, a country has an interest in having a population as without it, there's no country, no production of food and other things - going full evil and just committing genocide or mass homelessness would not make any sense.
Meanwhile, the interest of private land/property owners who hoard/acquire land/property with the intent to either rent or sell is to make as much money as possible, they don't particularly care if it gives someone in need a roof over the head as long as they're making money.
Also, with the housing crises around the whole world, the amount of vacant houses that would alleviate or outright solve those crises, and many types of fraud going around the world when it comes to building new housing, it's safe to say that the current housing system is controlled by unsavory individuals. In the real world, not in a hypothetical scenario.
Apologies for the long reply.
Well then, it already is, so we already do.
It doesn't need to be an authoritarian government or an evil government as such.
It would just need to be a govermt that doesn't prioritize fairness and egalitarianism above all.
If the people dishing out the housing have biases and they're not favourable to you, you're stuck.
At least in the existing system you have the ability to progress and determine your quality of living to some degree.
I don't think our current system is good by the way. I just don't think state owned housing is the right medicine. Not unless we can find a way to instate benevolent dictators.