| > If it isn’t profitable to be a landlord; why would anyone be a landlord? Yes, yes, go on! You are so close! > I’d rather live in a really bad tiny house than a government project. You know there are successful government housing areas, right? That are well maintained, below market rate, and generally liked by their residents. Even in the United States, where the government has historically done everything they can to undermine public housing there are still places where they are doing well. Not all public housing is giant projects either. There's plenty of smaller housing that's government owned. Yes, when the policy makers decide to neglect the housing units, particularly the large mega-projects, there are problems. There's a long history of trying to crack down on the poor for being poor. Making sure they are as poor as they seem, double and triple checking lest they get slightly more than minimum in social services. Other models: * Community Land Trust -- A group of people gets together and buys lots and sells them (or manages them) for less than market rate with the rider that anyone you sell the lot to must also be sold for less than market rate. [1] They typically serve those who make less money, and are often single family homes. * Housing Coop/Cohousing -- A group of people invests in building a community on a larger plot of land, often with smaller individual units but a larger community space. Because the cohousing group owns the entire plot, they have much more control over making the lots affordable. [2] [1] In Seattle: http://www.homesteadclt.org/
[2] Near Seattle: http://winslowcohousing.org/ |