Quote from: moniker on Nov 15, 2023, 04:13 PM

Quote from: RE on Nov 15, 2023, 06:32 AMThe bank and the builders do not have to realize the loss as long as they maintain the fiction that the apartment can be rented at the luxury price they projected when they approved the developer's loan to build it 10 or 20 years ago.

This is a good observation if true because it is similar to banks not having to recognize a loss on low-interest bonds they hold if the bank says they intend to hold them until maturity. Of course saying you intended to hold until maturity and actually intending to do so are two different thing.

Yes, it is exactly the same thing, and almost certainly true because if not, then where did all the units go that have been built over the last 20 years? How is it that there is such a sudden increase in disparity between the number of housing units available and the number of people who need them?

Perhaps a combination of a lower pace of building during the covid epidemic and the increasing number of immigrants coming in now has created the crunch, or at least exacerbated it.  If that is the problem, in THEORY, the capitalist market should respond with an increase in building now, but it is not doing so.  Why?  Because the rapid rise in the interest rates has made it harder for developers to get loans to put up low income housing, even with the tax incentives handed out to get them to do this type of building.

A good platform for a Democratic candidate would be to increase these tax incentives and at the same time subsidize the rents for low income applicants, as well as offering 3 months free rent to recent immigrants while they look for jobs.  The rent prices should be scaled to 40%  of what a person earns taking a min wage job for 40 hours/week in the zip code of that apartment building.  Again, the tax subsidies and developer loans would be financed by a wealth tax on Billionaires.

There would be a lag time of 1-2 years before the units start coming available, but that can be addressed as mentioned using the empty floors and buildings in the commercial RE market.  Of course office space isn't perfect living space since it lacks showers and you would have to share bathrooms, but it's way better than Tents with no electricity or running water in the middle of nowhere.

What currently appears to be the case is that the big cities like NYC & Chicago are throwing up the tent cities as a political ploy to say they are doing SOMETHING,  while in fact they are doing NOTHING.  Venezuelan immigrants given rides out to these places have gotten right back on the bus to go back to the intake center, despite being told take it or leave it, otherwise you sleep in the street.  It's a complete joke, there's no way to get to any jobs, no way for kids to go to school, nothing for anyone to do, etc.  I'm not even sure what they are supposed to do for food.  K-Rations?

Another question on my mind is why Venezuelans right now?  What is going on there beyond the usual failed state stuff?  Any news from there I missed out on?

RE