The pandemic has unleashed a torrent of out-of-context policies. The lock downs and the moratoriums on evictions are but two examples. Sadly, the victims of these policies have often embraced the underlying principles. A debate in Massachusetts illustrates this point. The Massachusetts state legislature is considering a bill that would strengthen the state’s eviction moratorium….
The Seattle City Council recently passed a law that provides legal representation for tenants facing eviction. According to the Seattle Times, advocates claim that the law “is a small investment that will help people stay in their homes and forestall the ruinous, and more expensive, consequences of homelessness.” Whether that claim is true or not…
For years, housing advocates have argued that landlords who refuse to accept housing vouchers are engaging in a form of racism because the majority of voucher users are black. Since I am a landlord who refuses to accept vouchers, in the eyes of many, I am a racist. In my twelve years as a landlord,…
A new “pro-choice” movement is being promoted by Leftists. As is often the case, the stated goals of this movement are a masquerade. While the policies advocated by the movement are presented as promoting freedom of choice, those policies are an attack on that freedom. As one example, housing advocates and their political supporters are…
It is rare that a book can objectively present the facts and then draw all of the wrong conclusions. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 2017, is one such book. Author Matthew Desmond follows eight low-income families and their landlords during the 2007-2008 financial crisis. He chronicles…
An inevitable result of government’s growing intervention in economic matters is a conflict between various policy goals. An example of these conflicting goals is the goal of preserving historic buildings and the goal of providing affordable housing. A common feature of preservation ordinances is that repairs to an existing building must use “in-kind” materials. For…
An opinion piece in The Dallas Morning News correctly notes that SB12, which would force social media platforms like Facebook to publish content the company finds objectionable. Can you imagine a law that forced someone who plants a yard sign supporting a Republican candidate to also place one for the Democratic opponent beside it? That’s…
For nearly a century, Americans have been told that we face an affordable housing crisis. Despite an endless number of government schemes purported to address the problem, it has only grown worse. Why? The simple answer is that supply has failed to keep pace with demand. But the simple answer doesn’t explain why developers and…
Housing advocates are promoting two bills introduced in the Texas Legislature that would give tenants more choices and reduce choices for landlords. The bills would prohibit landlords from using source of income as a consideration when renting a property. The purpose of the bills is to force landlords to accept housing vouchers. Advocates defend the…
In 2011, I purchased a boarded up home in the Sunnyside community of Houston. This low-income neighborhood was filled with similar homes. Many of these homes were in disrepair and hadn’t seen a fresh coat of paint in decades. To call the area economically depressed would be an understatement. Yet, I took a risk and…
Irrationality can take many forms, but one of the most common is context-dropping. When one drops context, one considers an issue in isolation, disconnected from other issues and known facts. When one drops context, one looks only at the immediate moment in disregard for the long-term implications. The pandemic and government’s response to it has…
In previous posts we have seen how the “right” to choose asserted by housing advocates leads to the destruction of freedom of choice, how the “right” to stay is an assault on voluntary action, and how the “right” to equal treatment is a demand for injustice. In this post, we will examine the fourth “right”:…