No more homelessness – a goal that sounds like utopian fiction may become reality soon. The „Housing First“ concept in Finland, supported by NGOs like the Y-Foundation, is aiming towards the end of homelessness in 2027. In a new interview, Juha Kahila, Head of International Affairs at the Y-Foundation, talks about the implementation of „Housing First“, new developments in politics and his hopes for the future.

Milei removed rent controls. As a result new construction of housing is actually happening. The increased supply of housing has caused rent to drop to almost half. Almost half. When you have static demand it doesn't take that much to drop the price. Just a little bit of excess housing vs just a little to little can make that difference.

I guess it's not a good time to be a landlord though. But it is a good time to work in construction or be a renter.

“By feeding sensitive data into a sophisticated algorithm powered by artificial intelligence, RealPage has found a modern way to violate a century-old law through systematic coordination of rental housing prices,” deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco said in a statement.

Direct video: https://youtu.be/jmgARoUAhKI

They were separated into three groups. Group A received $1,000 per month for a year. Group B received $6,500 the first month and $500 for the next 11 months. And group C, the control group, received $50 per month....

And ... no surprise ...

New Brunswick, Canada. 2-minute video. One nterviewee and husband had just spent 11 mo. homeless. 100 homes on a few acres. Project created by -one- person and a small team of 15 carpenters. Homes built off-site and then moved into place.

Found a full story (Jan '23) on CBC at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/12-neighbours-tiny-homes-fredericton-1.6732157 No time limit, people can live there for life.

I thought this article was interesting/relevant. I have concerns over what gets an exemption and what doesn't and what type of occupancy is allowed. Obviously higher density is better but not at the expense of safety.

Copied from u/Successful-Heart9134 on Reddit

"Call Me a Snitch But It Felt Good"
Bro totally reported a flipper to the tax/treasury office

This would be pretty awesome to see more folks doing.
Or, better yet, somehow if folks have time, writing code to alert when things like this happen.

Next up: getting city councils to stop approving tax abatements for developers to put ramshackle "5-over-1" units all over then moving out once the abatement ends and it's time to actually pay up...

Not only that, in terms of the mortgage burden, a median house today is almost as unaffordable as it was in 1981 when mortgage rates peaked at 18.39%—and more than 3x costlier compared to 1970:

These numbers are for the U.S.

After the Federal Housing Administation (BWO) announced in June that rents will go up by about 3 percent this year for tenants whose leases are based on the reference rate — about 54 percent of contracts overall — another increase is on the way.

The central bank announced on Thursday that it was raising the key interest rate further by 0.25 percentage points to 1.75 percent to counter "inflationary pressure, which has increased again over the medium term."

But many landlords of rent-stabilized buildings are big companies. They include developers like Cammeby’s, Lefrak and L&M Development, who each have several thousands of rent-stabilized units in their portfolios, in addition to market-rate units. The companies either declined to comment or could not be reached.

John A. Crotty, founding member of the Workforce Housing Group, which has about 1,500 rent-stabilized homes in its portfolio, said increases were justified because during the tenure of the previous mayor, Bill de Blasio, the panel largely rejected major increases, placing landlords in a difficult position.

The 2021 survey found that one-third of New York City tenants spent more than half of their income on rent. For them, looming increases will force difficult choices about where else to cut back on spending.