There's a leftist talking point that claims there are more vacancies than homeless people, but that talking point is overly simplified and deceptive for a number of reasons.
We have more vacant units than homeless residents in virtually every metropolis and rural backwater in the country. I'll spot you its oversimplified, as there's more to housing than just the physical structure. But the YIMBY plan to just "build more build more build more" completely neglects this core truth. We build units to incentivize new consumption and new financial investment, not to shelter an existing homeless population.
The lesser problem of homelessness is pronounced and obvious. The greater problem of an opaque and adversarial internal economy is occluded.
We have more vacant units than homeless residents in virtually every metropolis and rural backwater in the country. I'll spot you its oversimplified, as there's more to housing than just the physical structure.
It's oversimplified because there are a number of reasons why a unit might be vacant at any one time. A lot of units counted as vacant are simply between occupants, many more are derelict and not suitable for human habitation. You might be able to get homeless people into those units faster under socialism, but the talking point also the housing crisis is limited to solving homelessness, when it's much larger than that. You need a solution that solves the whole problem, not just one facet of it.
But the YIMBY plan to just "build more build more build more" completely neglects this core truth. We build units to incentivize new consumption and new financial investment, not to shelter an existing homeless population.
That's why I specifically mentioned PUBLIC housing. If the subject of this thread is about what policies leftists should support and what kind of housing policy socialism should deliver, then I'm saying a policy of building lots and lots of PUBLIC, i.e. NOT commodified, NOT for profit, housing is the proper solution to the housing crisis. And there's dozens of more reasons why densifying American cities and suburbs is good policy- the SFH home suburban development model America has chosen is an environmental, economic, and social disaster, and ought to be remedied at all costs.
A lot of units counted as vacant are simply between occupants, many more are derelict and not suitable for human habitation.
This is routinely overstated. Vacant rental units are abundant, particularly in higher income buildings. The vacancy rate in Houston, for instance is one unit in ten. High income units were twice as likely to bee vacant as their low cost peers, with 30k brand new units on schedule for delivery in 2024 concentrated inside 610.
This, in a city with around 3500 homeless people in a given year.
To claim we just don't have the unit space is denialist.
then I'm saying a policy of building lots and lots of PUBLIC, i.e. NOT commodified, NOT for profit, housing is the proper solution to the housing crisis.
And I'm saying there's no need to build new units. They already exist in abundance. The city just needs to take them rather than enriching landlords for their use.
This is routinely overstated. Vacant rental units are abundant, particularly in higher income buildings. The vacancy rate in Houston, for instance is one unit in ten. High income units were twice as likely to bee vacant as their low cost peers, with 30k brand new units on schedule for delivery in 2024 concentrated inside 610.
This, in a city with around 3500 homeless people in a given year.
To claim we just don't have the unit space is denialist.
It's actually denialist to claim that the only facet of the housing crisis is homelessness. There are a myriad of other problems with housing that can only be solved by building public housing, especially around public transit, which we also need to build a shitload of.
the only facet of the housing crisis is homelessness
Who made this claim?
There are a myriad of other problems with housing that can only be solved by building public housing, especially around public transit, which we also need to build a shitload of.
A great deal of the new Houston units have been built up around our nascent rail system.
Building units for use instead of commodification also means accessibility based on income, and building something that won't start falling apart in 20 years.
The current paradigm is great for people who live home lives that are isolated with just their nuclear families, who drive 0.8 cars per capita to work 15-40 miles away, who maybe have a dog they let out in the yard twice a day, who consume 5 gallons of gas equivalents per day, and who take up 0.1 acres of land apiece not counting needs outside of housing. It's not designed for a healthy society.
Building units for use instead of commodification also means accessibility based on income, and building something that won't start falling apart in 20 years.
Sure. But the 5-over-1s that have been churned out for the last two decades appear to have largely stood the test of time.
I'm all on board with doing some actual civil engineering and city planning, rather than just letting Highest Bidder decide the next random thing we construct. But that's a 5-year-plan problem and homelessness / immediate housing shortage is a We-Can-Solve-This-Tomorrow problem. Grab those unsold units in the Houston Galleria Area "Astoria" and surrounding mid-rise blocks. Turn them into public sector units and you'll be well on your way to housing everyone that needs it practically overnight.
We saw this play out under former mayor Anise Parker, abet in the more capitalist friendly way of simply paying market rate for units. We had several hundred homeless veterans and we simply... rented some rooms in the area around the VA center and the problem was done with... until the next mayor decided to cut the budget for the program and let people get kicked out again.
The current paradigm is great for people who live home lives that are isolated with just their nuclear families, who drive 0.8 cars per capita to work 15-40 miles away, who maybe have a dog they let out in the yard twice a day, who consume 5 gallons of gas equivalents per day, and who take up 0.1 acres of land apiece not counting needs outside of housing. It's not designed for a healthy society.
No. I'm talking about Multi-Family Units inside 610 situated on some of the few functional mass transit lines the city actually maintains and work in the downtown service sector anyway. I'm not saying put the Houston homeless population in some Hwy 99 Katy Exurb. You can do this entirely within the inner loop and have units to spare.
We have more vacant units than homeless residents in virtually every metropolis and rural backwater in the country. I'll spot you its oversimplified, as there's more to housing than just the physical structure. But the YIMBY plan to just "build more build more build more" completely neglects this core truth. We build units to incentivize new consumption and new financial investment, not to shelter an existing homeless population.
The lesser problem of homelessness is pronounced and obvious. The greater problem of an opaque and adversarial internal economy is occluded.
It's oversimplified because there are a number of reasons why a unit might be vacant at any one time. A lot of units counted as vacant are simply between occupants, many more are derelict and not suitable for human habitation. You might be able to get homeless people into those units faster under socialism, but the talking point also the housing crisis is limited to solving homelessness, when it's much larger than that. You need a solution that solves the whole problem, not just one facet of it.
That's why I specifically mentioned PUBLIC housing. If the subject of this thread is about what policies leftists should support and what kind of housing policy socialism should deliver, then I'm saying a policy of building lots and lots of PUBLIC, i.e. NOT commodified, NOT for profit, housing is the proper solution to the housing crisis. And there's dozens of more reasons why densifying American cities and suburbs is good policy- the SFH home suburban development model America has chosen is an environmental, economic, and social disaster, and ought to be remedied at all costs.
This is routinely overstated. Vacant rental units are abundant, particularly in higher income buildings. The vacancy rate in Houston, for instance is one unit in ten. High income units were twice as likely to bee vacant as their low cost peers, with 30k brand new units on schedule for delivery in 2024 concentrated inside 610.
This, in a city with around 3500 homeless people in a given year.
To claim we just don't have the unit space is denialist.
And I'm saying there's no need to build new units. They already exist in abundance. The city just needs to take them rather than enriching landlords for their use.
It's actually denialist to claim that the only facet of the housing crisis is homelessness. There are a myriad of other problems with housing that can only be solved by building public housing, especially around public transit, which we also need to build a shitload of.
Who made this claim?
A great deal of the new Houston units have been built up around our nascent rail system.
YOU MOTHERFUCKER
dont care build more
Okay, have fun talking to yourself.
Building units for use instead of commodification also means accessibility based on income, and building something that won't start falling apart in 20 years.
The current paradigm is great for people who live home lives that are isolated with just their nuclear families, who drive 0.8 cars per capita to work 15-40 miles away, who maybe have a dog they let out in the yard twice a day, who consume 5 gallons of gas equivalents per day, and who take up 0.1 acres of land apiece not counting needs outside of housing. It's not designed for a healthy society.
Sure. But the 5-over-1s that have been churned out for the last two decades appear to have largely stood the test of time.
I'm all on board with doing some actual civil engineering and city planning, rather than just letting Highest Bidder decide the next random thing we construct. But that's a 5-year-plan problem and homelessness / immediate housing shortage is a We-Can-Solve-This-Tomorrow problem. Grab those unsold units in the Houston Galleria Area "Astoria" and surrounding mid-rise blocks. Turn them into public sector units and you'll be well on your way to housing everyone that needs it practically overnight.
We saw this play out under former mayor Anise Parker, abet in the more capitalist friendly way of simply paying market rate for units. We had several hundred homeless veterans and we simply... rented some rooms in the area around the VA center and the problem was done with... until the next mayor decided to cut the budget for the program and let people get kicked out again.
No. I'm talking about Multi-Family Units inside 610 situated on some of the few functional mass transit lines the city actually maintains and work in the downtown service sector anyway. I'm not saying put the Houston homeless population in some Hwy 99 Katy Exurb. You can do this entirely within the inner loop and have units to spare.
Certainly, open up all the arbitrarily-vacant stuff by force. But that's just the beginning of the solution.