Housing Abundance Is Worth Pursuing

One political quip I find annoying is when people say that since there are more homes them homeless people, the solution to homelessness would be to place all the homless people in them. There are many problems with that, but even in the best scenario, what if having excess housing is a good thing as it gives you more options?

The many problems with merely putting homeless people in vacant homes include but aren’t limited to:

1. Where the vacant homes are. It’s no use if the home is in place with few job prospects, far from a locus of support or it’s just a shitty place to live.
2. What kind of home it is. Not just in terms of derelict homes but even fancy mansions. Living in one is rather impractical, moreso for a homeless person who wouldn’t have the money to cover the bills.
3. How you get the homes. A vacancy tax might help a little in getting the vacant homes availible after accounting for 1 and 2, but if you’re in a country that respects property rights, you’re walking into a legal landmine even with eminent domain and assuming you have all the money required.

Along with vacant homes is people blaming some bogeyman for buying up the houses, be it hedge funds, private equity, REITs or a Graham Stephan wannabe limiting the supply of homes. Maybe if you wanted to buy one, but not everyone can (or even wants) to buy a house. If buying second homes were to be illegal, where would people rent?

I could go on and on but my point is that the solution isn’t in the existing stock but rather new homes. Filling up all the existing homes would help but what if people want to move? Not just gentrifiers and migrants but within a city? There are many reasons you’ll need to move within a city:

• You want to downsize after your children move out,
• You want to move out of your parents home,
• You want to leave an abusive household,
• something happens to you house and you need a new place,
• and best reason of all is whatever other reason they have for leaving, it’s none of your business.

Darrel Owens has more reasons and discusses this issue better than I have. Give him a read!

By building more homes of all types, public and private, you empower people to move as they see fit. It would also make housing much cheaper, making it hard for those institutional investors and speculators to capitalize on it. Spending less money on housing lets people spend more on the things they enjoy. And to get here you don’t even have to do much or spend much money, just let the free market work because it surely isn’t allowed to right now.

In general, it’s time for abundance