Post #2491546

2026-05-06 06:06 UTC

@ocratato@discuss.systems Yep, all you’ve said and maybe more to it. If you recall reading the article, the conclusion drawn was that if you wish to deal effectively with the #HousingCrisis in Australia the only sure way to do it is to take it out of private hands. Social Housing should and ought to be a public run thing (at a loss if needs be) because housing is a human right IMO. And any politician who retorts that govts shouldn’t be in the housing business tells all you need to know about the individual and his opinions. #SocialHousing #AusPol #Antifa #TaxTheRich

Replies (1)

@ocratato@discuss.systems 2026-05-06 07:11

@RaymondPierreL3@aus.social When markets fail it seems to me that a government has two options: 1) Provide their own competition. Either set up a department to build housing, or commission houses from the existing builders. The first is typically not very satisfactory as you end up with large numbers of identical buildings which become undesirable places to live. (see Canberra in the early days) and the second can lead to corruption. Neither of these would survive a right wing government in any useful way. 2) The other option is to encourage more competition. A possible way would be to use the taxation system to penalise those with too large a market share. Use the taxation system to make it financially attractive to split your company. I suspect a market share tax would solve a lot of the problems of capitalism in a democracy.

Open ##2491547