What do CAFers think about housing policy, particularly affordable housing for the working class?

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RCIAGraduate said:
I wager many are, but don’t many need resources and support to help them succeed?
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You start small.

You use the education available.

There is HUGE supplemental education available … starting with your public library … visit the reference room!

There is very low cost adult education available by people who love teaching.

Visit your local print shop and print up advertising and business cards.
 
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Perhaps you have a point there (I do think you do), for one, there are libraries available (even if they could be more convenient such as better hours). Same with adult education (though can’t we do better to improve and scale up both workforce development and adult education such as expanding apprenticeships, increasing student support services and resources in our community colleges and providing access to mentors who can provide encourage (and feelings of hope) as well as understanding for those who struggle?).

That said, providing resource navigators and good and kind mentors for those in need could help. And I admit we do have resources out there (like trade schools and community colleges even if they’re not completely free and even if attending can be a hassle (balancing part-time work for example).
 
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It’s like running a race. It’s good to encourage a runner to train harder, eat healthy, and all that. At the same time, someone’s going to be last. Education and encouraging people to get skills only works if you assume a significant proportion of the population won’t do it and will be in low-level jobs.

We’re seeing this with college education now. Jobs that didn’t used to require a degree now do. Jobs that required a degree now need a PhD. Jobs that needed a PhD require that plus an internship or something. There are only so many “good jobs” out there, and a lot of places are mechanizing the good jobs and replacing them with minimum wage jobs.
 
RCIAGraduate said:
Do you think something ought to be done about it, and if so, what?
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Federal housing laws make any sort of quality control wrt tenants legally risky, since a landlord could be accused of “disparate impact” discrimination. The only way, in practice, for a landlord to exclude undesirable tenants is to raise prices. This has the perverse effect of creating a situation where increasing the price of a rental unit itself increases its perceived value (whereas in most transactions it’s the other way around, prices rise when value does).

The solution is twofold:
  1. Use the law to limit rent prices.
  2. Repeal the housing discrimination laws.
I do not expect either of these things to actually happen.
 
DarkLight said:
It’s like running a race. It’s good to encourage a runner to train harder, eat healthy, and all that. At the same time, someone’s going to be last. Education and encouraging people to get skills only works if you assume a significant proportion of the population won’t do it and will be in low-level jobs.

We’re seeing this with college education now. Jobs that didn’t used to require a degree now do. Jobs that required a degree now need a PhD. Jobs that needed a PhD require that plus an internship or something. There are only so many “good jobs” out there, and a lot of places are mechanizing the good jobs and replacing them with minimum wage jobs.
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Half are above average.

[or above the median]

On the other hand:


click here google youtube mikerowe Mike Rowe: 'Dirty Jobs' Reached Same People As Donald Trump's Campaign | Meet The Press | NBC News - YouTube

https://www.dailywire.com/news/2012...ent=101317-news-title&utm_campaign=Actengage#


click here google youtube mike rowe Mike Rowe's take: Man-babies and Starbucks 'shelters' - YouTube
 
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Arguably, if the government didnt get involved, there also wouldn’t be any need for government involvement.
 
And that general lack of impulse control doesn’t help put one in a great negotiating position either, fascilating the hypothetical employer problems.
 
That’s always the reason given to start a social program, and then it grows… Government programs are almost never phased out, even though they would ideally eventually serve their purpose and no longer be needed. They’re great at creating their own dependencies and are never ideal. Private charity wins every time.
 
Can you explain your argument that the insurance industry results from the mortgage industry? Thanks!
 
I don’t think saying X isn’t charity implies that X is intrinsically evil
 
Socrates92 said:
Can you explain your argument that the insurance industry results from the mortgage industry? Thanks!
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If an insurance company won’t write a policy to protect the mortgage lender, they aren’t going to risk their money by making the loan,
 
Aren’t rent controls extremely common, or is that only a thing in my area?
 
Most places in America don’t have rent control at all - although some of those who do are among the nation’s largest rental markets.
 
Rent controls are extremely uncommon. You find them in certain places in California, New York, Washington DC, some places in Maryland (presumably near Washington DC), some places in New Jersey (presumably near New York)— and that’s about it. The other 46 states either don’t have it, or have laws that directly prohibit/preempt it.

Here’s a list.
 
Interesting. I’ll admit I’m surprised by that. In Ontario they’re everywhere, and I think that’s the case for most Canadian provinces.
 
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