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Comment by freediverx | Hacker News Reader

I think many overlook the degree to which the housing market has been distorted by banks, private equity, and companies like AirBnB.

With a housing crisis in America, any decent, democratic government would have implemented regulatory changes to block or penalize purchases as financial instruments rather than homes.

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The government is far and away the largest player in residential housing. From zoning rules; through Freddie and Frannie; to extensive state regulations of foreclosures; to the mortgage interest deduction; and in hundreds of other ways governments at the federal, state, and local level have heavily shaped how Americans buy and sell houses.

If you are unhappy with how it’s working, the answer is not disinterested and hands-off government.

Wait what? This argument makes no sense : - housing conditions suck - government is a major factor in creating current housing situation - ergo government should be more involved...

What?

I would be careful with waiving a giant "government" paintbrush. There's many different governments at play here all with different goals (sometimes incompatible).

I’d say if there’s extensive involvement already, and you aren’t happy with the outcome, you should probably figure out what went wrong with those existing interventions before layering on top new rules that sound good but will likely also have unintended consequences (given that the old rules that sounded good didn’t all work as expected.)

You should probably start with an idea of what you are trying to accomplish. Do you want affordable housing or buying a house to continue to be a slam dunk, one way bet? Probably can’t have both because math.

Why? Homeowners are the majority voting demographic. No sane elected official will do anything to screw their biggest voter group.

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