this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2024
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A Boring Dystopia

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[–] Olgratin_Magmatoe@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

It's just as "totalitarian" either way. It's esentially the same system without the surplus being taken out of your pocket.

In a landlord system:

  • You pay $2000 a month. Of that, $1500 goes towards mortgage. Another $200 goes to maintenance, utilities, etc. The landlord pockets $300 for himself.

  • You have no choice but to rent from a landlord, buy housing yourself, or be homeless

  • Eventually the landlord pays off the mortgage, and pockets the additional $1500 for themselves because it's "market rate". Your rent remains at $2000/month.

  • The landlord dictates the rules of the building. You cannot get rid of a tyrant landlord except for moving, which isn't free, easy, or time convenient

In a co-op:

  • You pay $1000 a month. Of that, $800 goes towards mortgage, far less because it is no longer a speculative investment. The remaining $200 goes to maintenance, utilities, etc. There is no landlord, the collective collectively owns the housing. Nobody pockets any money for themselves.

  • You have no choice but to rent from a co-op, buy housing yourself, or be homeless

  • Eventually the co-op pays off the mortgage and your rent then drops to $200/month.

  • You vote for who is the manager/council of the building(s), which is almost always a tenant themselves. It's generally not a full time job usually single digit hours, and they are compensated. If the manager/council become tyrannical, you vote them out.

You have a clearly better system available, both in terms of your freedom and your wallet. And the better option isn't the landlord. They're all too happy to use your paycheck to buy another yacht or private jet.

And this isn't fantasy, non-market co-ops do exist. Look at the above link about Pittsburgh.