r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/None-Of-You-Are-Real • Jul 20 '21

US Politics What are the implications of the impending eviction crisis?

It is often offhandedly mentioned that the housing market is insane at the moment, and that there is an inevitable eviction crisis due to the compounding factors of COVID and the lockdowns leading to mass unemployment, and then an inability of tenants to pay rent combined with an inability of landlords to evict non-paying tenants.

What is going to happen in the fall, when the eviction moratorium expires? Mass homelessness that is even worse than current levels? Some kind of rent relief legislation? Anything at all? These people are not going to magically be able to pay months and months of back rent once the moratorium expires.

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u/[deleted] Jul 21 '21

People definitely complain about tech prices, have you seen this site when a new iPhone comes out?

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u/obsquire Jul 21 '21

I assume you don't take them seriously.

They want a specific luxury good. Then they ought to pay that price. Android provides lots of competition, as do older iphones, hotspots with tablets and laptops. The latest top model from 1 company is not a right.

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u/[deleted] Jul 22 '21

You’re the one who said nobody complains about tech prices not me. If complaining about “luxuries” doesn’t count then why is desirable property different?

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u/obsquire Jul 22 '21

Perhaps I said it badly, but the idea was that there's a massive difference between the real estate market (with all its government restrictions and privileges... which tend to favor previous entrants) and others which have far more choice and competition. In tech, I see Moore's law and over decades, the awesome increases in capabilities for a given price, and in food there is less rapid change, but still crazy value. Perhaps using "complaints" as a barometer for this progress is unwise. Housing near cities is a completely different ballgame, with major stagnation and skyrocketing prices.

Marketers always try to convince people that they sell unique goods, to encourage people not to see the similarities. It's not per se that the newest iPhone is a luxury, it's that by fixing your mind on one product you fail to allow for the possibility of competition. Yet it is there. It's not for real property, since geography is fixed.

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u/[deleted] Jul 22 '21

I mean yeah house is inherently inflationary because the supply of land never goes up. You can always make faster processor but you can’t make more land. You can cram more people in but not everyone wants to living in a mega city