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Shannon

@HeavenlyPossum @violetmadder @Daojoan @storyworker
I think the point you may be missing here is that not everyone has the desire to own a home. Home ownership is a lot of responsibility and work that not all may be willing or capable of doing. Home ownership also typically implies that you plan to stay somewhere long term. Should people not be allowed to live nomadically? I'm all for abolishing rentirism, but we also need to consider and plan for how to house non-home owners during our pursuit to get there.

8 comments
HeavenlyPossum replied to Shannon

@shamogan @Daojoan @storyworker @violetmadder

I quite explicitly said in this thread that not wanting to own a home makes plenty of sense under capitalism, because it entails all sorts of financial and cognitive costs.

That doesn’t mean that being housed intrinsically accrues these costs, and it also doesn’t mean that rentierism somehow becomes good.

Shannon replied to HeavenlyPossum

@HeavenlyPossum @Daojoan @storyworker @violetmadder
Even without Capitalism I think it's valid to not want to own a house. It's not just financial and cognitove cost. There is a lot of physical required to maintain a home, and not all are physically capable of that work.

HeavenlyPossum replied to Shannon

@violetmadder @storyworker @shamogan @Daojoan

Yes, I agree. All I’ve tried to convey is that “not wanting to purchase and own a home under capitalism” is not the same as “not wanting a permanent home in the abstract,” and the latter doesn’t somehow justify rentierism.

For example, if you’re not physically capable of maintaining a house and rent instead, you’re paying a landlord rents and probably a salary to hire a worker to perform maintenance. This is not something a landlord is necessary for; the landlord is still just inserted into a transaction between you and a maintenance worker.

There’s a whole universe of mechanisms by which people could live without permanent homes and still not rely on rentier landlords.

@violetmadder @storyworker @shamogan @Daojoan

Yes, I agree. All I’ve tried to convey is that “not wanting to purchase and own a home under capitalism” is not the same as “not wanting a permanent home in the abstract,” and the latter doesn’t somehow justify rentierism.

For example, if you’re not physically capable of maintaining a house and rent instead, you’re paying a landlord rents and probably a salary to hire a worker to perform maintenance. This is not something a landlord is necessary for;...

Shannon replied to Shannon

@HeavenlyPossum @Daojoan @storyworker @violetmadder
To bring this around to the original post, which calls for a "poison-pill tax" to force non-occupant owned homes to sell to at lower prices, there is a group being forgotten in this strategy: the current renters of these homes. Many of these renters would still not be the ones able to afford (or willing) to buy those homes. So if this policy we're to be followed without also investing in alternative housing options, such as co-ops, we would see a displacement of current residents renting in that area to those who have the will and means to buy.

@HeavenlyPossum @Daojoan @storyworker @violetmadder
To bring this around to the original post, which calls for a "poison-pill tax" to force non-occupant owned homes to sell to at lower prices, there is a group being forgotten in this strategy: the current renters of these homes. Many of these renters would still not be the ones able to afford (or willing) to buy those homes. So if this policy we're to be followed without also investing in alternative housing options, such as co-ops, we would see...

Shannon replied to Shannon

@HeavenlyPossum @Daojoan @storyworker @violetmadder and so I believe what @storyworker was expressing is that they are glad they have renting as an alternative to owning, and as someone who does not want to own, they we're asking if you removed all the landlords, how would they get access to housing, if not thorugh renting. Which is a valid question, in my opinion.

HeavenlyPossum replied to Shannon

@Daojoan @violetmadder @shamogan @storyworker

I noted from the very beginning that being grateful for an opportunity to rent is a perfectly legitimate survival mechanism under capitalism, and that I was not criticizing this response at all. You can scroll back up through this thread to read that.

My goal is not to abolish landlords by forcing them to sell; my goal is the abolition of landlords through the decommodification of housing.

Shannon replied to HeavenlyPossum

@HeavenlyPossum @Daojoan @violetmadder @storyworker
That's great that is your goal but that's not what is being talked about in the original post, which is what they commented on

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