In this video interview by The Atlantic, Richard Florida argues that the United States needs to get over its obsession with homeownership. Rental makes more sense given the excesses created by massive subsidies and the inflexibility for owners in an unpredictable economy.
A new housing regime based on rental could make housing more affordable and appropriate in the age of climate change. Sorry for the preroll commercial. I couldn't find a version without one.
Teaser image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/taoofdavid
Comments
Neal Gorenflo wrote on 06.04.10, 8:36am:
I agree that Florida is a capitalist who is stuck in the growth at any cost paradigm. And that community land trusts are a better solution, something we've written about:
http://shareable.net/blog/can-we-build-homes-on-trust-0
I'm just noting here that this is potentially a big shift in thinking. Home ownership has been a central part of the post-war American Dream. For a pundit as prominent and conservative as Florida to challenge it head on struck me as pretty surprising. You have to admit that while Florida's prescriptions aren't perfect due to still being within the corporatist frame as you point out, this is heading in a better direction.
Thanks for highlighting the contradictions. This is something I perhaps should have done, but part of the value of Shareable is it allows folks to add to the debate, check facts, or offer a different perspective, etc.
Note also that we've been critical of Florida in our Twitter stream. I honestly can't believe he's still working to help grow the economy. I read his new book and was shocked at this business as usual stance against a backdrop of unbelievable environmental calamities caused directly by a growth economy.
Neal Gorenflo wrote on 06.04.10, 8:59am:
Anonymous, want to write about your plan for a "network of limited equity co-ops" for Shareable? Would be a great rebuttal to Florida.
Abby Quillen wrote on 06.05.10, 12:39pm:
Neal, You may enjoy this essay by David Oates from the May/June Orion Magazine if you haven't seen it. It's about the limitations and hopes of making green urbanism more affordable and accessible.
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/5500/
David T Lang wrote on 06.06.10, 12:08pm:
Interesting stuff Neal. When I was studying Land Economics in college, a Professor and I looked hard at business opportunities in shared housing. There are a number of financial structures that could make this work, we focused on a rent to own, Lease + Purchase Option. The real issue is a change in the mentality towards home ownership. Looks like Florida is hinting at that.
Another interesting parallel is Hernando de Soto's work. In his book, The Other Path, he argues that giving property rights to squatters in the slum cities around the world would unlock huge amounts of economic potential. Nice idea in theory, but turns out not to work so well in real life. Robert Neuwirth, a journalist who spent 4 years living in squatter cities concluded that de Soto's theory was mostly incorrect, that squatters could build and flourish as long as they knew they wouldn't be evicted or disturbed. Property rights actually began to cause problems with absentee landlords. Conclusion, Access > Ownership, so what does an access oriented system look like? and how can we get people to buy into it?
Neal Gorenflo wrote on 06.06.10, 2:10pm:
Great question David. Would make a good event or feature. I was just in Vienna, just voted the most livable city in the world. The city owns a lot of apartment buildings and offer them at affordable rates. This keeps a lid on rental rates across the city. In a sense, they created a housing commons which checks the speculative impulses of private real estate investors, which as we've seen can drive up housing costs to seriously exclusionary levels. So I think the trust model is part of the equation.
A part of the solution that's already here for the most part is all the services that list properties. That helps with liquidity and access, though what I'd like to see is a Yelp for landlords and apartment buildings witch would check their power and put a strong incentive for prosocial behavior in place.
Louise Crabtree wrote on 06.07.10, 10:46pm:
Likewise, Anonymous, I'd like to see something on the 'network of coops' idea. If there was some way to have nationwide listings of the community rental, zero/limited equity coops and community land trust housing that already exists, that would be a fantastic start to broadening the programs. I love the idea of being able to move home within the same suite of providers across the country, especially providers that you have the opportunity to be on the board of.
yuck! This guy Florida is such a pollyanna-ish huckster, it's really nauseating... forget all this fluff about the "great American system" that is so dynamic! To suggest that the solution to the housing crisis is to promote one or more national corporations that buy up gazillions of units in cities everywhere so you the prospective tenant can have a long-term relationship to the company to provide your housing!... what a nightmare! We don't have enough problems with dependency on corporate control over our lives already??
He's a bald-faced apologist for capitalism (which has served him and his fake "creative class" very well... which is why he has become a hit, his whole "argument" is an extended paean to the nouveau riche of the FIRE industries, flattering them to think that they're "creative" because they work in banks, insurance companies, real estate brokerages, etc.... Aaaaagh!).
What about land trusts? What about seizing all that empty housing, all those unsellable condos, and establishing a network of limited equity co-ops so EVERYONE has a home, one in which they have an equity stake so they can get out of the vicious cycle of poverty?... completely absent from this short spiel which might as well have been paid for by Century 21 or some other real estate company...
The argument here has NOTHING to do with sharing... why is it posted to shareable.net?