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Comment by freshcatch_ | Hacker News Reader

De-commodify housing.

I love this phease. It’s so brilliantly cheap, edgy, holier-than-thou without bothering to actually suggest anything of substance or make any kind of proposal that could be subject to scrutiny.

An active market for mostly-interchangeable housing units is a great thing. No one wants to see a world where housing isn’t a commodity, unless they already live in their ideal home. We want to see a world where it’s cheaper.

yeah what does 'de-commodify' even mean?

The easiest way to do that is to make prop 13 for primary residences only.

This is a good idea. How can we get it done?

Amend the California state constitution.

Wouldn't that make housing more expensive, rather than less?

No, since it would reduce demand from investors.

Look at Japan- their housing is surprisingly affordable in Tokyo despite being in a major city. Due to flexible zoning laws, houses can be built almost anywhere. Houses are deprecating assets, like cars, rather than investments, like houses in America/Canada/etc.

So, if I understand you correctly, we need to make houses not "commodities" in an investment sense. But doing so requires producing a lot more housing. That may mean making them "commodities" in a colloquial sense - that they're ordinary, pretty much interchangeable. (Most people, most of the time, don't care very much which brand of potato chips someone brought to the party...)

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