Libs love bad faith arguments about housing. Even if they agree that more housing needs to be built - they never want to talk about how that could even begin to happen.

I had some annoying convos at Bluesky about housing. Sometimes I wonder why I ever talk to any lib online. Anyway - I guess I'll keep trying.

Do you have any articles or web pages...

  • About the pernicious influence of institutional buyers in the housing market. Related to this is lib tedium like "it is a myth that institutional buyers control a large part of the market."

  • That help me avoid any tedious, bad faith, lecture that "it is a myth that there are more vacant homes than homeless people". I want something I can link to so I can say - Look, I don't expect the number of vacant homes in the US to be zero but look at this.

  • And I want another this link to avoid lectures that "it is a myth that a meaningful number of homes are kept 'off the market' to raise prices".

  • [Whatever else I'm forgetting. Surely there are at least two more list items.]

---

NYT columnist Jamelle Bouie is a social media lib darling. The following post is a thing of beauty that I discovered an hour ago. He managed to squeeze in a lot of these annoyances into a single post.

Anyway, it is a myth that there are more vacant homes than homeless people. It is a myth that institutional buyers control a large part of the market. And it is a myth that a meaningful number of homes are kept “off the market” to raise prices.

https://subium.com/profile/jamellebouie.net/post/3kzcoa3xjsk2c

  • InevitableSwing [none/use name]
    ·
    2 days ago

    NIMBY concern trolls

    Them: "Look, we need to build housing but..."

    Me: [Redacted or I'd get banned plus the feds would look at the post.]

    NIMBYs make even pilot projects impossible because NIMBYs will even force those into red tape for a decade or two. How can anything ever get better? I think libs should not be allowed to use certain words. "Complicated" for example.

    the purge but it's everyone against landlords.

    That would be awesome.

    Something something something a particular video game character something something something funny. <--- On repeat

    • SuperZutsuki [they/them]
      ·
      2 days ago

      Literally had a back and forth with some shitbag today that went like:

      Them: I like living in a small, less dense city and driving a car everywhere

      Me: Why, can you give me a reason? Have you ever been in a denser city with good transit?

      Them: Density will not improve my quality of life, I will sell my house and leave once the city starts getting dense.

      Me: Dude, wtf is wrong with you? Why are you such a misanthrope?

      Them: First, I love people. Second, adding a bunch of apartments will make it like [largest city in the state and its exurbs (basically a racist dogwhistle)] and won't do anything to housing costs because reasons. Why don't YOU move if you like density so much?

      Me: links study on vacancy vs. rent growth that is irrefutable evidence he's wrong Hey, this says you're wrong. Also, sprawl is destroying the environment and hastening climate change so I'm trying to change things in the place I'm currently living because I actually care about shit.

      Them: WHAT ABOUT CITIES WHERE POPULATIONS ARE DECLINING? WHY DON'T YOU MOVE TO ONE OF THEM? THEY'RE GREAT, HOUSES ARE CHEAP. YOU'RE PART OF THE PROBLEM— (The cities given as examples are hollowed out ghost towns after the one industry that kept the town going died out.)

      Me: I don't give a fuck if seeing apartments gives you a big sad. We're taking the power back. Eat shit, old man.

      Radio silence since then. From one moment saying I should move to a big city if I like density so much to the next "WHY DON'T YOU MOVE TO THIS MIDDLE OF NOWHERE SHITHOLE AND TRY TO BUILD YOUR DREAM TOWN FROM THE GROUND UP????" Just so deeply unserious, these people need to be thrown in a woodchipper.

    • AstroStelar [he/him]
      ·
      2 days ago

      On the other end you have YIMBYs who bootlick real estate developers and reduce everything to restrictive zoning and "build, build, build", dismissing concerns about gentrification, new housing just being bought up by speculators or it just being too expensive anyway. The urbanist Youtube channel "Oh the Urbanity!" is like this from my experience, though it was a long time ago since I last watched them.

      For me housing supply and housing affordability are two related, but separate issues, because there are other factors than supply and demand that affect housing affordability.