There are almost 720,000 empty homes in England. And many more on social housing waiting lists - so why aren't we better using one to help solve the other, and is it a case of a missed opportunity?
But the policy is not good, it’s bad, and it would be bad regardless of whether you implement it in a capitalist society or any other one you care to name. It fails to address the underlying issue, fails to solve the problem even in the short term and also makes the problem worse in the medium to long term. That is, by every definition, a bad policy.
You know what else is the enemy of the good? The bad! This is the bad.
Great, I’m glad we agree that we should house as many people as possible! So, obviously, you don’t support this bad idea that wouldn’t achieve that. Right?
The policy would fail for numerous reasons, some of which we have already discussed, more of which you can find in the article I linked, and none of which you have even attempted to refute, except to argue that your chosen policy would be less bad under a hypothetical non capitalist economic system. Which, maybe, I guess? But it still wouldn’t work, under any system, because ‘empty homes’ are not the cause of the problem. Even a system based straight up on immediate need would require some empty homes.
No one thinks we shouldn’t utilise existing homes. Literally any strategy does so, including the existing, failing paradigm and anything along the scale to full state-ownership of all property would of course involve existing homes.
But the mooted upsides to the (vague) suggestion to ‘use empty homes’ are massively outweighed by the downsides: there aren’t enough of them; they’re usually ‘empty’ for a perfectly good reason (e.g., dilapidation); you simply must have some empty homes, under any system, in order to meet people’s needs; it’s difficult to create incentives that don’t already exist in the current system. Etc. And there’s the opportunity cost of time spent trying to make work a policy that cannot work! Governments don’t have infinite time so it’s vital that they focus on good policies.
Capitalism needs empty homes. People just need homes.
Even if you abolish capitalism, putting people in empty homes still won’t solve the housing crisis.
Perfection is the enemy of good.
But the policy is not good, it’s bad, and it would be bad regardless of whether you implement it in a capitalist society or any other one you care to name. It fails to address the underlying issue, fails to solve the problem even in the short term and also makes the problem worse in the medium to long term. That is, by every definition, a bad policy.
You know what else is the enemy of the good? The bad! This is the bad.
Yes Frank, giving as many people homes as possible is a bad idea.
Great, I’m glad we agree that we should house as many people as possible! So, obviously, you don’t support this bad idea that wouldn’t achieve that. Right?
The policy would fail for numerous reasons, some of which we have already discussed, more of which you can find in the article I linked, and none of which you have even attempted to refute, except to argue that your chosen policy would be less bad under a hypothetical non capitalist economic system. Which, maybe, I guess? But it still wouldn’t work, under any system, because ‘empty homes’ are not the cause of the problem. Even a system based straight up on immediate need would require some empty homes.
You know you can do two things at once… you can utilise existing homes and build new ones. It’s like magic!
No one thinks we shouldn’t utilise existing homes. Literally any strategy does so, including the existing, failing paradigm and anything along the scale to full state-ownership of all property would of course involve existing homes.
But the mooted upsides to the (vague) suggestion to ‘use empty homes’ are massively outweighed by the downsides: there aren’t enough of them; they’re usually ‘empty’ for a perfectly good reason (e.g., dilapidation); you simply must have some empty homes, under any system, in order to meet people’s needs; it’s difficult to create incentives that don’t already exist in the current system. Etc. And there’s the opportunity cost of time spent trying to make work a policy that cannot work! Governments don’t have infinite time so it’s vital that they focus on good policies.