Reason I’m asking is because I have an aunt that owns like maybe 3 - 5 (not sure the exact amount) small townhouses around the city (well, when I say “city” think of like the areas around a city where theres no tall buildings, but only small 2-3 stories single family homes in the neighborhood) and have these houses up for rent, and honestly, my aunt and her husband doesn’t seem like a terrible people. They still work a normal job, and have to pay taxes like everyone else have to. They still have their own debts to pay. I’m not sure exactly how, but my parents say they did a combination of saving up money and taking loans from banks to be able to buy these properties, fix them, then put them up for rent. They don’t overcharge, and usually charge slightly below the market to retain tenants, and fix things (or hire people to fix things) when their tenants request them.
I mean, they are just trying to survive in this capitalistic world. They wanna save up for retirement, and fund their kids to college, and leave something for their kids, so they have less of stress in life. I don’t see them as bad people. I mean, its not like they own multiple apartment buildings, or doing excessive wealth hoarding.
Do leftists mean people like my aunt too? Or are they an exception to the “landlords are bad” sentinment?
Hey, not so fast. It’s easy to say that glibly, but the lines get kinda blurry when you consider long-term hotel stays and short-term rentals. What’s really the key difference between the apartment and the hotel when you’re staying at the former for a week at a time or the latter for a 3-month stint?
I’m not saying the Venn diagram is a circle, mind you, just that there’s definitely some overlap.
I do see what you mean, but I am not sure arguing all the edge cases does anything but muddy the water. I mean I would argue that a hotel (even long term) is a hotel. Honestly, I would argue that the way housing is working right now, landlords who do short-term rentals are even worse than your standard landlord. Some cities are outlawing or heavily regulating them because they are so much more damaging (to society) than the more normal longterm landlord.
Eh, fair. Still, I was curious what you’d say about some of those edge cases.
Well, that’s the problem, isn’t it? Housing isn’t working right now for way too many people. :(
Personally, I have very different opinions on “in an ideal world, here’s a sketch of how humane housing might look” and “in today’s dystopian hellscape, these are the worst of the worst”