Population and Housing

[ijmorlan]

Renting should does not have to be a bad thing. In a reasonable housing market, renters can pay the carrying costs of a home, and don't have to come out behind owners. This was true for at least some of our history and also the history in other places.

The problem is our housing supply, not whether it is owned or not.

Yes, you make a lot of good points. I should just clarify that I don’t think it’s bad to rent; it’s just my guess that no mortgages would lead to substantially all the housing stock being owned by large landlords. I think it’s desirable for typical people to have a realistic chance of being able to choose to rent or buy, so based on this I prefer the housing stock to be owned more widely. But I don’t look down on people who rent and I’m not that interested in the specific fraction of people who end up buying vs. renting.