• Baron Von J@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Housing costs arent even companies being greedy, but homeowners.

    Investment firms buying and holding homes are, by definition, homeowners, making them part of the problem. People who are trying to buy a home are having to get into bidding wars with investors, who are buying 1/4 homes sold in the last ~9 months.

    I honestly think people don’t even know what they’re mad at they’re just mad

    Renters looking to buy a home are mad at investors who can buy up inventory with cash (which in this context I’m including individuals buying up single-family houses to rent out, not just companies), and afford to leave the property vacant rather than accepting less profit by lowering the rent on it.

    People trying to buy groceries are mad that wages increased 4-5% in 2022 while Tyson chicken prices went up 20% in 2021, and then in 2022 agreed to pay over $220M for price fixing while reporting $6.5B in profit that year.

    This is why the real problems struggle to get fixed.

    When you have unlimited corporate dark money going into politics, you get a government that seeks to obfuscate the issues to keep the population blaming the wrong things, to keep the money flowing into their “campaign funds.”

    Fixing housing requires changing local zoning laws and depowering current homeowners from the ability to pull the ladder up after them to protect their investment. They will never back that en masse on their own, because they benefit.

    I don’t disagree with that. And I’m in the minority of homeowners who do try and vote for making things more accessible knowing it will increase my own tax burden to pay for it, because I will benefit from having a more stable society around me even if my house doesn’t appreciate another $100k.

    • SCB@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      People who are trying to buy a home are having to get into bidding wars with investors, who are buying 1/4 homes sold in the last ~9 months.

      This only happens because we already have such a shortage that there is guaranteed ROI.

      And I’m in the minority of homeowners who do try and vote for making things more accessible knowing it will increase my own tax burden to pay for it, because I will benefit from having a more stable society around me even if my house doesn’t appreciate another $100k.

      Same dude! We just gotta keep trying to change more minds.