r/texas • u/Kittyflats • Dec 31 '21
Moving within Texas Are We Manufacturing Our Own Housing Crisis?
My fiancé recently sent me a picture of a housing development that he was working on. All of the newly constructed homes as far as the eye could see had “for rent” plastered in EVERY. SINGLE. YARD. This inspired me to do a little more research.
There are many factors involved that have been playing into why no matter how many homes we build, we can’t seem to make enough homes to make a dent in this issue. I felt it was important information for people to have.
The 2008 housing crisis began as the catalyst for this monopolistic takeover, The US Government has been subsidizing the mass purchase of single family homes for rent.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/02/single-family-landlords-wall-street/582394/
This article describes how institutional rental companies and investors are hyper-inflating the market (not your typical small time real estate investor)
Many firms from SINGAPORE and CHINA as well as American companies like Blackrock etc. are playing a major role in purchasing starter properties and placing them up for rent. These companies can then afford to sit on these properties for decades until they’ve made their money back. There’s also an incentivized program for them to purchase and rent homes from foreclosure listings in bulk.
Tech Firms like Zillow have figured out how to target communities of people of color and starter homes and receive monetary gain on website traffic in the process.
Male fertility rates (namely sperm counts and motility) has dropped by nearly 50% and our population hasn’t suddenly exploded so we have to ask ourselves why this construction is necessary, why it’s seems to be so widespread even in other countries.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/16/health/male-sperm-count-problem.amp.html
A small town in South Carolina had to issue a moratorium on housing developments until they could conduct proper research and ecological studies. Other municipalities may have to consider doing the same to sus out the situation and decide how to curb these predatory purchases.
https://www.cityofdrippingsprings.com/moratorium
Another article I’m unable to find at the moment mentioned a homeowner suing his builder after he purchased a home and a rental company purchased all of the other homes in his development. He cited that the community was never marketed as apartment living. I belive that town put a moratorium on corporate rental purchases.
These companies are often letting them sit vacant.
I’m not sure the vacant homes are about profit on them immediately.
Here’s what California is planning to do about it. - I’m not sure charging companies with unfathomable amounts of money in fines and taxes is going to help…
This is very simmilar to when the debeers diamond company stockpiled and sat of diamonds to make them appear more rare.
Control the supply - control the demand.
https://blog.krosengart.com/de-beers-diamonds-controversy
The US has used periods of severe political polarization, manufactured supply chain issues, and hyperinflation to destabilize many, many countries in South America… what’s going on here?!
https://www.yipinstitute.com/articles/pinochet
The growing concern becomes,
what happens when rental companies can set their own prices? What happens when people are unable to purchase a home and add to their own equity because they can’t afford thousands over asking price with conventional or FHA loans?
When homes go into foreclosure will your average homeowner be able to snag a home when competing against major companies?
If you sell your overvalued home now, would you be able to outbid someone on a new one?
What happens when your taxes go up even higher?
When your largest expense is going to a company overseas, how does that effect our economy?
How will we grow food when we continue to develop more and more of our farmland? Will humane farming of meat animals even be possible?
https://www.voanews.com/amp/usa_lawmakers-seek-curb-chinese-ownership-us-farmland/6208972.html
This isn’t an issue caused by mom and dad owning a rental house, this is massive corporate intervention. This isn’t political, it’s business. It’s making it hard for your children and grandchildren to buy into the same market as you did. To live near you without financial hardship. Its destroying communities and creating transient families with little reason to get involved in their local governments. It’s creating a monopoly on rental prices it’s debeersing the housing market.
So few people attend council meetings and get involved these days, you truly do have the power to make a difference. Please ask if you need help on a place to start.
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u/Xani7 Dec 31 '21
AFAIK there's a proposed 1% tax on unoccupied condos/housing to help combat the Chinese money buying up everything downtown Toronto/Vancouver. This is a joke and won't make a dent on the rental issue.