Comments on: Is Public Housing Necessary?

By: billwald

billwald — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:48:51 +0000

“As long as I have to pay taxes on property, I don’t want to own property.”

You don’t mind paying your landlord’s taxes? Or do you live on the streets in a RV? Can you own a car under your rules or do you drive it unlicensed? Isn’t sales tax imposed in most states when you purchase “property?”

Half the cost of new housing goes for zoning rules, building permits and regulations. How many of you would want to live on less than 10 acres if there were NO regulations? For example, if your neighbor could run a feed lot next to your house?

By: Daniel Coleman

Daniel Coleman — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:54:23 +0000

I just wanted to comment that I think this article is an absolute gem — as relevant today as when it was written. I’m very happy that LvMI unearthed it so that I (and many others) could read it for the first time.

By: Franklin

Franklin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:43:33 +0000

If one has a right to a dwelling, precisely which dwelling would that be?

If the dwelling does not exist, then who should erect it?

From where do the monies come in order to pay for the supplies and the labor?

So you’ve two alternatives:

You realize that nobody has this nonsense “positive rightâ€ enslavement construct, and instead you try to persuade folks to help assist the homeless; or….
You forcibly extract earnings via taxation from those who have a dwelling in order to erect another dwelling for a homeless person. And if the dwelling-owner refuses to pay, then you take his dwelling by force and kick him out of what was formerly his dwelling.
Then you have his former dwelling to provide for the homeless.
And as he is now homeless, he can be provided the dwelling that he formerly owned.

By: Chad Rushing

Chad Rushing — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:20:02 +0000

Gil is absolutely correct in that no one has a right to a dwelling. However, there are plenty of private individuals or organizations who voluntarily make that “their problem” due to their genuine concern for their fellow man.

For example, the various Christian congregations in my hometown regularly provide motel rooms, meals, and gasoline for poor travellers requesting assistance. There are all kinds of private shelters, soup kitchens, food banks, charity hospitals, and the like which daily work towards meeting the basic needs of others in the absence of any legal mandate to do so.

Now, if someone you knew personally was in genuine need, would you do whatever you could to help him yourself or just direct him to the nearest government welfare office? Government assistance programs kill a sense of community in that people start turning by default to the government for help in their times of need rather than build voluntary, mutually beneficial relationships with others.

By: Gil

Gil — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:39:42 +0000

Why not call a spade a spade and say that “no one has a right to dwelling”? If people can’t afford a house or an apartment then they have to figure how they can get enough income to start renting or buying. Or to put it another way – if a person can’t afford a dwelling that it’s their problem, not anyone else’s.

By: Chad Rushing

Chad Rushing — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:43:46 +0000

That was a fantastic essay, one of the best I have ever read on mises.org. Although the dollar figures certainly don’t reflect today’s conditions, the essay’s advice is as applicable (and needed) today as it was when it was written. Thank you for reprinting it.

By: Stephen Grossman

Stephen Grossman — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:59:52 +0000

And why should those who want to live in apartments subsidize homeowners or be regulated into homeownership? Ie, its more than govt-caused high prices.

By: No Taxes

No Taxes — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:52:10 +0000

Allow people to erect a cheap tent on their property (land) and there you go.

I would be more than happy to erect a tent on a cheap piece of land and keep my full paycheck without having to pay for electricity, rent, water or taxes.

But there is a reason why you are not allowed to do what you want on your property. There is a reason why most governments want you to build expensive housing with all services on your property.

So they can collect property taxes.

As long as I have to pay taxes on property, I don’t want to own property. I will only buy property when I am the 100% owner and I owe nothing, no taxes to nobody.