A House for Everyone
Posted on | February 12, 2009 | 2 Comments
As reported by Bloomberg last week, a record 19 million homes stood vacant at the end of 2008, and home ownership fell to an eight-year low as banks seized houses faster than they could sell them. You don’t need me to tell you this, but 19 million is a LOT of houses, and this acceleration of empty houses is a direct result of the economy’s big FAIL since the recession started in December 2007. In other news, according to an estimated count at the beginning of 2007, there are roughly 744,000 homeless people in the United States (although that number has surely gone up since the beginning of the foreclosure crisis last year). So even if the number of homeless people has gone up significantly, to let’s say about 900,000 people, that’s still 21.1 empty houses for every homeless person in the country. When we look at it this way, one wonders why there are any homeless people at all!
Of course we know the equation is not that simple, but luckily many counties, cities, and even FreddieMac have put in place programs that allow people who can’t pay for their homes to stay in them anyway. It’s better for the people, since they have a place to live; and it’s better for the houses, and therefore the new owners – the banks – since inhabitants are using pipes, cleaning, and performing basic maintenance that wouldn’t get done if the house was empty. And for those who happen to be homeless in Miami, a solution: squat in vacant homes. Of course, it’s illegal, but given the conditions in the country right now, no one is complaining. With 19 million empty homes, couldn’t we at least temporarily provide basic shelter for the rest of the country’s homeless?
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February 12th, 2009 @ 11:37 am
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February 12th, 2009 @ 5:33 pm
I am all for squatting, only if the squatters keep up repairs and take care of the communities they live in. NYC was infamous for squatters, and I think still is to a degree, and many of those buildings were maintained by the inhabitants, and subsequently “owned” by them as well.