this post was submitted on 10 May 2025
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[–] [email protected] 179 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (4 children)

Millionaire? Nice. Billionaires should follow suit, but 1000x

(With ~800 billionaires in the US, that's 79,200,000 homes)

[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

How many homes do we actually need?

[–] [email protected] 158 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Funny story, we actually have enough housing for everyone. It just isn't always where people want to live, and corporate landlords would rather leave a space vacant to drive up rents than make all of their inventory available, so there is a shit ton of residential (and commercial) property that is basically abandoned.

[–] [email protected] 114 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (5 children)

Some estimates say there are as many as 12 vacant homes per homeless person ~~this country~~ in the United States.

Edit: millionaire in OP is from Canada

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 weeks ago

Last estimates I saw before the pandemic had the rate above 30:1. I haven't looked since then, but I'm certain it's only gotten worse.

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

What we need is tax on vacant property. Make it a ladder system so its worse based on number of vacant units and value.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It would have to take into account how long it's been vacant though.

I don't want to punish property owners the literal second someone moves out, and it's technically vacant. I also don't want to punish them if they need to make repairs or updates to the property in between tenants.

So lets call it a tax forgiveness period of 1 year. I figure thats enough time to get the property renovated, and advertised as being available for rent.

And yes, I'm sure theres going to be someone who abuses the rule by just keeping it vacant for 11 months, and trying to rent it that last month. But here's the thing. Those minded people will get burned. Because it takes time to rent properties. They'll find it may take 2 or 3 months to find a tenant. Or maybe on the 11th month, they'll realize they can't rent it because in the time the property sat abandoned, uninspected, rats infested the property. Now it needs extermination services and renovations which will take 5 months. Oh well. There's always SOME delay if you wait until the last minute. Which is why I gave it a generous year. Honest landlords won't get burned with that grace period. Scammers will.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

I'd say 3-6 months vacant is considered empty. Especially in high COL areas.

This forces property owners to lower rent to get the property filled if they can't get a tenant. Thus bringing down rates.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The problem with that is, sometimes renovations take longer than 6 months. I don't want to punish honest landlords, because then that incentivizes honest landlords to seek out ways to cheat the system, because the system cheated them.

It's the same reason piracy is so popular in times when the official sources are either too convoluted or expensive to follow the official way.

Most customers would be happy to follow the rules, but if you want to watch 1 single NFL team through all 17 regular season games, my local team would require you to have access to an OTA broadcast tv source, and 5 different paid subscription services. Most of which are only broadcasting 1 game.

And now the NFL is seeing a MASSIVE rise in piracy. Yeah. No shit.

Same concept here. If you punish the honest landlords for undertaking a major renovation, then you push them to seek out other ways to cheat the system. And once they start, theres nothing saying they'll stop.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

If it were to actually roll out it'd start as a full 1 year with no leased tenant.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

And eliminate corporate ownership of residential property. Tax the shit out of anyone owning more than three residences, and bring property values back down to earth. Bail out homeowners who owe mortgages for more than the value of the properties, and let the market self-correct.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 weeks ago

The official homeless number for 2024 in the US was 771,480. That's probably just reported and not actual.

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[–] [email protected] 134 points 2 weeks ago (16 children)

I see no reason to believe that letting this guy make unilateral decisions is somehow better than taxing him appropriately and using the revenue to build public housing.

[–] [email protected] 108 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

Did anyone say that it was better this way? He could just go buy another yatch instead.

Dont let perfection be the enemy of better

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

This statement might be true, but we're not taxing him. Should he just donate his money to the government?

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Absolutely. We don’t need kings making decisions like this. The downside is the difficulty in forcing government and the anti-help-anyone segment of our society to spend such taxation correctly to actually help people.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 weeks ago

If every billionaire did this and ended homelessness perhaps they would have a point about their wealth hoarding. I won't be holding my breath for this to happen though. Tax the rich!

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 weeks ago

Sure there are lots of failures to the way we govern ourselves. This shouldn't be a need. The reality is that it is a need and that person did what he could. Have you?

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Good for him, but this is pretty much an Orphan-Crushing Machine moment.

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

Just want to remind everyone that we don’t have a housing shortage, we have a cost of living crisis. Everyone deserves a place to live and we have plenty. The will is the only thing. Fight YIMBY traitors. We can do it!

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 2 weeks ago

Yo

Idea

What if ALL the houses we build are for reducing homelessness?

At least think about it

[–] [email protected] 39 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (6 children)

Source? Did it actually work? Very cool if so.

[–] [email protected] 81 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

If you give a homeless person a home, then by definition, they are no longer homeless.

On a less pedantic note, yes, it should. Some countries (like mine) provide a secure place to live as step one, when helping the homeless. Having somewhere safe to sleep, keep your property, etc. makes all the other steps involved in solving your problems much easier, leading to a better success rate in getting people back on their feet.

[–] Taiatari 37 points 2 weeks ago

Further it enables them to apply for all manners of documents as they have an address to their name. Try getting any sort of document from a bank or governmental branch without an address. Trying to get a passport without address? Nope. No address no ID, no Bank account and mostly no employment anywhere without either of the two.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 weeks ago

Here's one article about it.

https://macleans.ca/society/tiny-homes-fredericton/

I don't remember where I saw this the first time, but it did mention that this had become a thing in a few American cities too (this story was from Fredericton, Canada)

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 weeks ago

My city does something like this as part of our homeless program and we're at "net-zero" homeless. It doesn't work on it's own, but the tiny homes give people a stable place to keep their stuff safe and the elements off their bodies, it gives them an address they can use for things like mail and applications, and it gives social workers a place to find them reliably. It's the start of a long process to help them back to their feet.

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

And why were they homeless?

Why were they homeless???

[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm of two minds.

  • shitty bungalows are what is killing infrastructure costs and perpetuating urban sprawl. We have a generous home in a hyper-dense housing area and - thanks to triple paned windows and concrete - no claustrophobia.

  • tiny homes for people returning from homelessness may be a good idea. The unfair concerns are mitigated by very repairable units separated from neighbours.

We need to keep these as transitional housing, though, and a feeder into a "starter" unit in proper dense mixed-use: every block (hectare) taken for tiny homes is 3 million cubic meters of space taken from a land budget we're already overdrawn on.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I think thats always the hope that they are first steps of stability to move up. None of the projects like this I've seen have been intended to be life time residence.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

So this guy shouldn't be news, this should be the standard, it's scary that the one good guy with enough money to do something like this is the exception and not the norm.

We all evolved to live in tribes; we have to work together as people.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

You might be interested in the story of Tengelo Park.

Harris Rosen went from a childhood in a rough New York City neighborhood to becoming a millionaire whose company owns seven hotels in Orlando, but his self-made success is not his proudest achievement.

Twenty years ago, the Orlando, Fla. neighborhood of Tangelo Park was a crime-infested place where people were afraid to walk down the street. The graduation rate at the local high school was 25 percent. Having amassed a fortune from his success in the hotel business, Rosen decided Tangelo Park needed some hospitality of its own.

“Hospitality really is appreciating a fellow human being,” Rosen told Gabe Gutierrez in a segment that aired on TODAY Wednesday. “I came to the realization that I really had to now say, ‘Thank you.’’’

Rosen, 73, began his philanthropic efforts by paying for day care for parents in Tangelo Park, a community of about 3,000 people. When those children reached high school, he created a scholarship program in which he offered to pay free tuition to Florida state colleges for any students in the neighborhood.

In the two decades since starting the programs, Rosen has donated nearly $10 million, and the results have been remarkable. The high school graduation rate is now nearly 100 percent, and some property values have quadrupled. The crime rate has been cut in half, according to a study by the University of Central Florida.

"We've given them hope,’’ Rosen said. “We've given these kids hope, and given the families hope. And hope is an amazing thing."

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

10M over 20 years to help a community of 3000 or $166 per person per year. USA is planning to increase the military budget by 150B this year or over $400 per US citIzen...

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

Someone took 99 families off the streets? Wow fuck that asshole, how dare she have enough money to do that. How dare she not give up her home and make it 100 families off the streets, not good enough!

-Half this website, angry 99 families now have a place to live who didn't before this event

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 weeks ago

Are there better, more efficient ways to accomplish this? Yes. Am I glad they at least did something though? Also yes.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Americans will build literal shoeboxes instead of 1 apartment building

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

When dealing with homeless and mentally ill this setup of isolation from other units is better. Dealing with unsanitary living, smells, fires, sounds, are all are easier to mitigate in this setup. Also America is not hurting for wide open spaces to build this type of thing.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Fight against homelessness shall not be charity driven.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Yes but this is still a good idea in the meantime

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 weeks ago

Nice!

Now, it would be good not to rely on good will of some individuals and actually enforce this for all the rich.

But still mad respect for the man.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Now imagine if billionaires did it with their infinite wealth......sad. humanity and capitalism is just cancer.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 weeks ago

I like this because it is both a good story about an individual helping their community and it is proof individual action alone is not enough to rely on to solve social problems.

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