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Comment by roywiggins

2 days ago

Would that not make rental properties entirely illegal? That seems... complicated

the owner could rent out their own house and rent someone elses.

it does make sense if you want to save a nice retirement home for yourself or a place where you want to raise your children while you work and live somewhere else.

  • that only works with a complete loop of landlord/renters and hence doesn't help anyone rent who can't own themselves....

    • right, i was just trying to point out that it would not make renting single family homes illegal.

      it doesn't have to be a closed loop though. owners could be (and in my example most likely would be) renting an apartment/flat in the city which is not privately owned)

I think the idea is that nobody would prefer to rent if given a choice, and that everybody could afford to own if not for the presence of landlords in the market.

  • > I think the idea is that nobody would prefer to rent if given a choice

    I'd wager about 25-50% of the population prefers renting. Lots of people don't want to be tied down.

  • Possibly but that is not the main argument. The main argument is about the lesser of two evils. Do we want to prioritize the open market of SFH ownership, or do we want to prioritize (maximize) the number of people who can own a SFH. Banning multiple SFH ownership would target the latter, with the tradeoff of a restrictive ownership path for wealthy individuals.

I figure many couples would live in one home, rent a second.

The children could have one each too, perhaps only once they reach 18.

I think there would be plenty of rental stock still.

Rental single-family homes should largely be illegal. Short-term housing should be largely limited to apartment buildings and more space-economic structures. Littering the landscape with empty houses only helps bank accounts.

Still, I'm more than cognizant that there must be huge exceptions carved out for any of these ideas.

  • You find it hard to believe people may want to live in single-family homes temporarily? Or live in them without worrying about maintenance?