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In a theoretical socialist society, people would not be allowed to own multiple single family homes, only the one they’re currently using, since renting an essential need creates a power imbalance.

As a stop-gap, all currently rented single family homes (as in renting the entire house, not just a room in a house), could be converted to rent-to-own contracts, so that at some point that power imbalance ends and the renter is no longer being exploited.

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Bytemeister@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Who maintains the homes that no one is living in?

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- ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Could you elaborate what you mean?
  
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  - Bytemeister@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Sure.
    
    If you don’t maintain a house, it falls apart extremely quickly.
    
    Examples on my house. Plumbing leak. If it’s not fixed the house can become uninhabitable in a few weeks.
    
    Gutters filled up with leaves. If you don’t clear them out, they’ll sag and fall off the house, and you’ll get creeping damp coming into the base of the house.
    
    If you don’t repaint exterior trim as it ages, the wood/metal underneath will rot/rust.
    
    If you don’t mow or maintain the green spaces, you’ll end up with a bunch of brush and plant material near the house which can be a huge fire hazard.
    
    Trees near the house need to be trimmed and maintained to prevent large limbs from damaging the roof.
    
    If the house isn’t lived in or maintained, animals will get into the attic, nest, urinate, and defecate, which will make the building uninhabitable.
    
    Just a few examples there, literally there is an endless number of problems a house can have, and if someone isn’t around to fix it at least mitigate them, then the house will very quickly become uninhabitable. I’ve personally seen it happen in less than a year.
    
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    ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    I don’t mean regarding maintenance, I mean why are the houses empty?
    
    I could see a very undesirable area having houses left abandoned, just as they are in our current system. But in areas that are desirable, why would a house be left abandoned?
    
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papertowels@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
That’s all well and good, but how likely is that to actually happen?

The original commenters point was that corporate landlords are driven only by profit as they buy up rental property everywhere. Even preventing that is highly unlikely, if we’re being honest, but it is far more likely to happen than all rented houses being forcibly turned to rent to own contracts.

We all want the same thing, but there’s a tradeoff between grandiose ideals and feasibility. It does not seem wrong to support pushes for less radical but more realistic methods of improving housing if your goal is to improve housing.

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- ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  None of what I suggested is feasible to achieve within a political framework that is ultimately captured by capital. A handful of small particularly ethical landlords may support reform, but most will not, and the bigger corporate landlords will actively fight it with millions of dollars in lobbying, which the politicians have proven time and time again are only too willing to accept.
  
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  - papertowels@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Agree. We have a few housing coops in town and I recommend them to everyone I know.
    
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