Affordable Housing Is A Major Problem
- Is the Solution really to build more Affordable Housing?
- Is the Solution really to build Housing for people so they can merely subsist at the least ambitious state possible?
- Or is the Solution to empower, educate and embolden people to better themselves and their lives, so they can afford to live in a place of their dreams.
Workplace Education
- Companies should Incentivize employees to improve their Education and Job Skills through the traditional routes of Promotions and Increased Pay, but also reward them for increasing Education on their own time
You admittedly lost me on this one. Who is going to wash dishes at restaurants and take payment at the grocery store for you if everyone is vying for a better paying job and higher ranking on the social/career ladder? Also, if you believe in freedom you must believe in the freedom to choose to live an unambitious lifestyle. Do these people not deserve to be housed?
ReplyDeleteSomething that made a big impression on me recently was a trip to Port Hardy that I made this summer. My partner and I were driving around the neighborhoods just put of curiousity, and we eventually came across the cheaper area (presumably). The apartments were old, and not well maintained. There was a layer of algae and moss growing over the face of it, and it was clearly in disrepair. As I was thinking to myself, why doesn't the landlord spend a little money on maintenance? I realized that it was the neglect that specifically made this an affordable place to live for the people on the lower rungs of society. If the landlord invested significant money into this, or worse gentrified the building, they would be forced to raise rents significantly and the residents wouldn't be able to afford their homes. They would eventually end up homeless, and given that it's Port Hardy, it's unlikely that many people would fill in the empty apartments. Affordable housing takes many forms, but it is specifically the people who are content with "good enough," in all levels of society, that make it possible for their to be a peaceful and well adjusted dichotomy. To that end, I disagree with this point in your platform and urge you to think more deeply about what you are suggesting.