Clutching pearls, "won't someone please think of the corporate profits"

Love that they're horrified that China isn't manufacturing artificial scarcity and are sooooo close to saying they ought to respect the cartels' and monopolists' death grip on the global economy.

I'm disappointed in myself that I haven't got past "but they're rented to people" and I blame the character limit. I'm saying luxury condos are limiting in that they are a product of our distorted market and they reproduce themselves at the cost of lower rents. The status quo could be improved

And again, these high density buildings could do so much more to lower the cost of rent if there was a different approach taken

Property shouldn't be on the stock market (here I'm mostly referencing REITs who invest mostly in luxury condos) as that distorts the cost of what should be a human right.

I'm critiquing the housing market as it currently enables profit over housing and often ends up increasing the price of homes because it has become a main driver of our GDP increases.

I'm arguing that it's because people who live in Surrey and Brossard buy a second, or a third condo in Griffintown to make a profit off their investment (along with everyone else with enough for a downpayment).

I'm saying you can get far more out of the rent-reducing effect of more housing with regulations that are designed for that effect.

The type of building absolutely affects the property value of the surrounding neighborhood. NIMBY will rail against a safe injection site, or low income housing on claims that the "change" to the neighborhood is lowering values.

I'm only against it existing at the cost of all other housing that also needs to be built in large amounts

Like, I want rentals, houses, artists lofts, five storey walk ups, studio flats in skyscrapers, I want it all but I've watched as cities tear down variety and almost only put up one kind of new building because this is the most effective for returns on investment.

and either selecting areas for unimpeded investment skyscrapers or requirements for affordable and social housing either in the towers or in the neighborhoods are possible ways to mitigate the problem I'm trying to explain.

They're not bad in themselves but they are a part of an investment feedback loop that ends up pricing the lower income citizens out of the area. It doesn't have to work that way tho,

The return on investment is the focus and the market starts a feedback loop these having the biggest return so they build more and people take out multiple mortgages to buy these condos to flip in 2-5 years (or overseas investors park their cash in some of them like a Picasso or government bond).

I'm saying that the "investment skyscrapers" that I have witnessed in Canadian cities (Vancouver, Toronto, and increasingly Montreal) build homes that aren't intended to be affordable and instead to cater to the property-as-investment market.

No I'm with you on rentals are an important part of housing and I'm not against one bedroom homes.

The Granville seagulls are the ballsiest I've ever met!!! Stole a sandwich right out of my hand while I was about to take a bite!!! Gotta be on your guard with food around them!

Yes, BUT, these buildings are built for a a specific type of buyer and put upwards pressure on a housing market because it's a market signal that it's a 'hot' area and money flocks to build the property that has the highest returns on their investment. You can mitigate that, but you gotta try

But with laws mandating a sustainable housing plan and tax breaks to make it possible in a market system, I believe we could get there.

I failed at being succinct, but thread over!

I liked what Plante attempted but failed with the 20/20/20 or whatever it was called (tax breaks for below market condos and public housing units included in the builds), though that admittedly failed spectacularly as not one was ever built with the affordable housing.

When only these are built to the specs of those interested purely in maximum investment returns and are the main type of build they don't provide housing nearly as much as they provide investment speculation opportunities.

And I'm not against them entirely, but after living in Vancouver, they're wildly insufficient as the dominant housing build and are a vehicle for property speculation not reducing rents.

The typical 20+ storey building with small rooms that are cost effective to build but also have pool+gym+more that turns these homes into "luxury" top market priced condos (not bad itself).

These are largely bought as investments that will increase in value and not as long term homes.

I liked the video but it left out the gentrifying effect of investment skyscrapers. When one goes up in a neighborhood, the surrounding property values (and rents) increase. That's not to be an argument against them entirely, but you'd need to account for that effect to actually lower rents.

There is no pride in genocide. I personally support the decision to keep Zionists out. The values of inclusion that LGBTQ2S+ embodies invites Jewish people to march for the dignity of all people, those values are incompatible with colonial genocide.

Slaughterhouse Cow Frets Over Personal Contributions To Climate Change

Slaughterhouse Cow Frets Over Personal Contributions To Climate Change theonion.com/slaught...

Oh fuck yeah, absolutely! I can't think of any profession as starved as writing is! Especially reading HST or, like, Hemingway write about how journalism is the low hanging fruit for novelists. Those days are sooooo dead.

The really sad part is writing is just further ahead in the process everything is going through. Being a working writer sure seems like a pipe dream, but so is every other industry. Programming was the easy money but new grads now have the same glut of mass layoffs to compete against.

Today would be a good day to revive the digital services tax.

I think it's possible with enough pressure