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Norway uses an alternative strategy to get housing to the poor called the "housing allowance"[1]. Instead of paying developers to build lower quality housing, money is given directly to poor people for the purpose of paying rent. The prevents having a bimodal price distribution like the one observed in New York.

1. http://www.husbanken.no/english/what-is-housing-allowance/

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sooo tax dollars go into the pockets of the land owners....and that extra money bids the price of land up more....and the land owners have a further incentive to vote against any zoning changes.

And yet somehow still infinitely better than extreme rent control based purely on incumbency

I think it would be better that the landlords were not the beneficiaries of this type of subsidy, though. I'd prefer to see them have to compete, and this doesn't attack the problem from that end.

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