[rguillebert]

> Kicking grandma out of her rented apartment

If she's retired, she can move somewhere cheaper so someone who actually needs to live there for their job can move in.

The rest of what you've written is completely unsubstantiated.

[around_here]

Ah yes, the classic “you’re useless now grandma, the fuck on outta here” line. I bet you’re a real gem in the family.

A landlord is to housing what a scalper is to tickets (or for the nerds, graphics cards). Only one of them leaves you fucking homeless.

[rguillebert]

Ah yes, the classic "I got here first so it's mine forever".

[pessimizer]

Are you advocating for an end to all property rights or full housing nationalization or something? Do you advocate for 100% capital gains taxes, including on housing? I don't understand why you target rent control as the only thing that rewards the people who already have things.

[rguillebert]

I don't support policies that actively entrench the status quo. I'm for taxation that's as high as possible without causing too much negative impact on investments. We're having a conversation about rent control here though, that's why I only talk about rent control, in a conversation about taxation, I'll talk about taxation.

[KittenInABox]

I'd rather a grandmother be housed than be homeless, even if it means her grandchild has to live in a further flat.

[pasquinelli]

two ways of looking at things. on the one hand, there's the view that society exists to take care of people, including letting grandma stay in her appartment if she wants to. on the other hand is the view that society is a competiton, grandchild against grandparent, and so on. one of these views is insanity.

[diordiderot]

So should grandma occupy a five bedroom house by herself a 15 min walk from the city for twenty years while her children wait until their mid thirties for a deposit on a studio?

[rguillebert]

If you can afford to rent a flat in London, you can afford a flat anywhere, it's not about homelessness.

[pasquinelli]

but what of you can only afford it because of rent control? isn't that the actual discussion at hand, elderly people staying where they've lived forever because they can afford to due to rent control?

[rguillebert]

There's a limited supply of housing in those high demand locations, not everyone who wants to live in London can live in London because there just isn't enough units, with that limited supply, housing should go to the people who need it the most, like the people who have jobs in those locations.

[jjav]

> If she's retired, she can move somewhere cheaper so someone who actually needs to live there for their job can move in.

OTOH that is extremely cruel. Older people, assuming they have lived there most of their life, are the hardest hit by having to change. All their lifelong friends are near, their trusted doctors are nearby, it's all they know.

[8note]

Why not have the job move to the person instead?

[gruez]

That's the dream isn't it? Take all the high paying silicon valley jobs, and move it to some cheap city like detroit.

[rguillebert]

That'd be great of course, for a ton of jobs, that's not possible though.