• iopq@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    My kneejerk reaction is not to landlords. It’s to “there should be a law”

    If you implement this, people will be living long term in hostels in 6 people dorms because the landlords are not required to live in them.

    I suggest reading Freakonomics, it explains how similar laws created perverse incentives in the real world

    • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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      11 months ago

      Someone who legitimately thinks “People will just replace houses with hotels” is not someone I’m going to look to for advice on this subject. Hotels are already more profitable for their owners than rental properties. If what you suggested was in any way feasible it would already be happening.

      If you implement this, people will be living long term in hostels in 6 people dorms because the landlords are not required to live in them.

      First, “This law that doesn’t exist has a loophole” is a stupid argument. I’m not proposing the full legal text of the law, that would be for the government to figure out. Any imaginary loophole you come up they can also predict and not allow (include “hostel” on the list of properties the owner needs to also live on. Boom. Done.)

      Second, you are suggesting people who currently live on their own will suddenly live in 6 person dorms. So what happened to those other 5 houses those people were living in? Are they also filled with 6 people dorms and we’ve magically created 6 times the population out of nowhere? Are they empty because they’ve been purchased by people who don’t live there (you know, the entire problem here) who are now paying taxes on properties with no occupants until they are forced to sell?

      • iopq@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Why is my hypothetical disqualifying? A lot of people actually use their houses as hotels, it’s called air bnb. It’s pretty profitable to use the property like that

        If you include the hostel owners to live in them, they will be converted into hotels that don’t have that requirement. That’s not my argument. My argument is permanent residents will be forced to live in hotels as apartment buildings get converted by their current owners who can’t possibly live in all of their properties at the same time