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Re:Housing Can’t Be Both Affordable and a Good Investment (2... by forrestthewoods on Wednesday May 01, 2019 @08:53PM (#19803404)
> Housing doesn’t have to be a commodity at all. It can easily be an unconditional human right.

An unconditional human right... where? Does everyone have a right to housing in the uber popular San Francisco? Does everyone have a right to beachfront property in Hawaii? Or if you don't have a house are you provided one in North Dakota?

More people want to live in San Francisco than there are houses. There's going to be winners and losers. I would love to radically increase the number of immigrants we let into the country. Where do they have a right to housing? If that housing doesn't exist who is obligated to build it to give away?

Re:Housing Can’t Be Both Affordable and a Good Investment (2... by wpietri on Wednesday May 01, 2019 @09:21PM (#19803615)
We have these sorts of discussion for any positive right. If people have a right to food, what kind of food? If people have a right to medical care, what kind and how much? If people have a right to education, what does that mean in practice?

We also have similar discussions around many negative rights. E.g., in the US 4th Amendment rights are subject to all sorts of practical limitations.

That rights are complicated to implement doesn't mean that they shoudn't be rights.

Re:Housing Can’t Be Both Affordable and a Good Investment (2... by pascalxus on Thursday May 02, 2019 @01:22AM (#19804979)
I agree with the notion that every human being should have a fundamental right to shelter. Maybe not in the location of their choosing, but somewhere on this d* planet there really ought to be a place where they can be.

The solution is, to give a plot of land to every human being that turns 18. there's enough land to do this. In most cases they wont want to live exactly in that spot. but, they can sell it or rent it out and use that money to move somewhere else. That's right folks, this is one of those situations where we can actually create wealth out of thin air, just by using up all that land that's been locked up for so long.

Re:Housing Can’t Be Both Affordable and a Good Investment (2... by drb91 on Wednesday May 01, 2019 @09:08PM (#19803512)
Well the answer is to build more housing, and companies should start elsewhere if there isn’t the housing or talent in the area. Maybe I could move out of SF then...
Re:Housing Can’t Be Both Affordable and a Good Investment (2... by drb91 on Wednesday May 01, 2019 @11:46PM (#19804509)
Furthermore I hypothesize people would be motivated by bad conditions to either collectively invest in better housing or to move to where there is housing. This just removes wealth from that equation.
Re:Housing Can’t Be Both Affordable and a Good Investment (2... by em-bee on Thursday May 02, 2019 @02:23AM (#19805245)
in germany housing IS an unconditional human right.