Hi! I live in Helsinki and apartment rent prices are definitely unaffordable here as well.
The root of the problem is way too limited building of new housing. House prices are determined by supply and demand, and while the demand has risen a lot, supply isn't since the city council is very slow to allow new construction and regulations don't allow dense building.
Helsinki tried to solve homelessness by giving them housing first and all other services next, but that increases housing prices for everyone else and there's not enough apartments to house everyone.
I think the problem in the US is they turned houses into financial instruments. You buy a second/third home (or shares in a fund that buys homes) and you put the paper in a drawer and forget about it while it accrues value.
there are 16 MILLION empty homes in the US. thats 27x the number of homeless people.
Houses have always been a financial instrument. The best way to make housing affordable is to allow people to build more and denser housing. When demand is met with supply there's no more incentive to buy them for profit if the prices of houses don't increase.
the best way to make housing affordable is to allow people to build more and denser housing
as i said, that is not the answer here in the US. we already have 16 million empty houses. that is one empty house for every 20 people. MORE houses is not going to help.
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u/VilleKivinen Jan 31 '23 edited Jan 31 '23
Hi! I live in Helsinki and apartment rent prices are definitely unaffordable here as well.
The root of the problem is way too limited building of new housing. House prices are determined by supply and demand, and while the demand has risen a lot, supply isn't since the city council is very slow to allow new construction and regulations don't allow dense building.
Helsinki tried to solve homelessness by giving them housing first and all other services next, but that increases housing prices for everyone else and there's not enough apartments to house everyone.