Given your online demeanor I feel like you probably fit in well, and I’m guessing the locals love you.

Enjoy being part of the problem but not realizing it.

I mean in my neck of the woods the issue is less landlords driving up the price as it is influx of California s selling 1000 sqft homes in California for 1 million and being able to pay cash for any affordable house here because we don’t have a supply… again see my other reason for not having supply

Yes. That’s why record number of people are moving to Idaho/Montana and Texas… because they are so undesirable.

You do realize it’s possible that it’s more than one thing that is contributing to the cost of housing, right? … and not just landlords, despite what lemmy keeps telling everyone.

I’m not saying slums… but look around the United States and see what states are monumentally cheaper to build in. Hint. It’s not blue states.

And I say that as a progressive in minnesota.

Are you kidding me? No area benefits from deregulation?

Regulation in a lot of areas is put in as a protection to businesses already in the space to help alleviate competition. Is Charter/Comcast is out there pushing for deregulation so that small cities and communities can come in and setup their own cheaper broadband services, or are they fighting it tooth and nail?

Does my barber actually need a license to cut hair? Sure you could argue that the barber is technically more hygienic, but that isn’t always the case… it’s just another way to make it harder for me to open up a competing barbershop.

I’ll agree that is A problem, but not the only problem.

• Nimbyism
• Building laws
• licensing laws
• zoning

Those things also add to the exorbitant cost of housing. It’s not investors who are causing houses to cost 300 a square foot in my city, it’s lack of buildable land, contractor availability, licensing, residential zoning laws. All those things equal cost… some of those things could be fixed with less regulation.

Let’s be honest there are areas that would benefit from less regulation.

(Looking at you housing!)

Judging from the fact that it was contagious as fuck and when it did pop up in a community, the spread was quick and ferocious… I kinda just think people who claim to have some weird shit in early 2020, just had some weird shit. Not covid.