[lbo-talk] Winter solstice wishes

Wojtek S wsoko52 at gmail.com
Thu Dec 19 12:12:44 PST 2013


Chuck: "All that is needed is money. So re-start that system to provide subsidy for low income housing of existing units "

[WS:] I think there is more than money needed. It is cooperative ownership of housing. I lived in a housing cooperative in Baltimore that was established with government money in the 1970s as as alternative to public housing. The key elements were democratic management (similar to condominium associations) and prohibition to sell dwelling units - if you wanted to move out you could no sell your unit, it reverted back to the cooperative. This made it affordable and eliminated speculation. And unlike public housing in the area, many of which were run by slumlords, the coops provided decent and affordable residences.

I had a naive hope that the 2008 housing bubble burst would provide an opportunity to move things in that direction - buy underwater houses and convert them into cooperatives. But that was quite naive indeed.

-- Wojtek

"An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list