General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why not outlaw landlordism? [View all]TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)although I doubt you meant it to.
Since land is a limited resource, I've always liked the idea of a commons where land is owned in common, but the buildings farms, etc., on it are private. Ain't gonna happen.
I like the idea of "council housing", of which the US had quite a bit of over the years. Public housing was a big deal in the early 20th century, thanks to Riis and others, but the idea ended up with a bad rap and most of it is sold off or neglected.
The Trumps and Lefraks of the day made fortunes off of cheap rental housing, leaving public housing in the dust. Large life insurance companies, with vast amounts of cash to invest, also built mass housing, and did a better job of it than those guys, but they are out of it now.
Right now, it would be incalculable how we could deal with the trillions in value trying to change from a rental system to anything else. Of course, like Lenin and Hitler, some badass could just order it and kill off anyone objecting.