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this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2023
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It's very simple, where's the money coming from?
The government would bankrupt itself very quickly if it paid for enough land and construction for even 5% of the population.
New home buyers don't want to pay anywhere near market rates to move into a co-op, and that's how much it would cost to buy the property and build them out right now. Developers/construction companies aren't the ones making buckets of money, it's the existing landowners that are raking the profits in.
Co-ops are a hedge against future cost increases, not a solution to current problems.
Then do the max that doesn't bankrupt them. I'll be blunt, I don't really care what the monetary cost is. Money is fake. Housing is a necessity. If we can't even house our citizens, what good are we?
Every dollar spent on housing is coming out of the pockets of taxpayers. It doesn't make sense to bankrupt the government to try to house a few more people, because then everyone is going to be far worse off.
The housing mostly exists already or we'd have absolutely massive homeless populations (its less than 1%) its the price and allocation that is the problem.
Pricing problems can use alternative solutions. Raise property taxes on only the land by 10x, then return all of that money to every citizen equally. People who are using too much property for themselves will sell that off right quick to either a larger family or a developer. Congratulations you just made land cheaper everywhere and didn't have to spend a single tax dollar.
Or reuse some already-built housing. Large condo buildings cause gentrification; buy a portion of the units and make them affordable housing, below or non-market units. You save yourself the trouble and the building expenses, you can still raise taxes on 'land-owners' and you house people in dire need of housing. You also revitalize and degentrify areas. A lot of condos are owned as second-homes that are rented out, so the owners wont be unhoused. If they are concerned about loss of income, we all get together, push for raising taxes on the richest and on corporations and implement universal basic income.
(As an aside, a lot of buildings not-intended for housing that are not occupied can be repurposed as housing. We just need political will).