A Patron of Democracy at Work asks: "Does there exist any movement to abolish land-lording? Seems like the existence of landlords is a major part of the problem. Workers are doubly exploited. First, at work where they are not paid what their work is worth, and again, in the home where they are charged more than their dwelling is worth. An alternative could be, in addition to those that own their own homes, cooperatively-owned buildings where the tenants only pay for utilities, maintenance costs, and taxes, and/or a public housing system where housing is operated like a public utility and governed democratically."
This is Professor Richard Wolff's video response.
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Showing 1 comment
As Professor Wolff indicates there are other models that are based on cooperative ownership, that stress affordability, and treat housing as a basic human right. Community land trusts already exist to promote housing affordability by removing the cost of purchasing land. Ground rents are set to cover costs of running the CLT and to pay any property taxed imposed by local governments. Housing units might be owner-occupied, subject to restrictions on the resale of the housing unit either to some dollar amount (e.g., replacement cost, less depreciation) or to households with incomes no greater than some percentage of area median income. Or, housing can be set up as a limited equity cooperative or as rental units with rents set based on actual costs of operation, with subsidies provided for those households with low and very low incomes.