doing evil with holiday homes
I've noted in prior posts that I am often torn between British and American reactions to news and views, and probably the vast majority of the time the reaction is American-tinged.
It certainly was in this case: I read a commentary by George Monbiot on the Guardian Website in which he has a go at people who own second homes -- for the weekend or whatever. The gist of it is that while discounted council rates for second homes are irritating, the real problem is greed, the reduction in supply of available housing for younger people, and the scourge of homelessness -- the first being the cause of the other two.
I just don't buy it, and I was stunned at the level of vitriol against second-home owners in the comments section. The connection between second homes in the countryside and shortages of housing in the cities and suburbs is unclear to me; this is a supply question and freeing up rural housing probably won't do anything. And I'm not even touching the public health causes of homelessness... Guardianista Polly Toynbee wrote a piece some time ago about how second homes or flats bought to be rented were a scourge on the housing market and thus were a deep social evil driven by greed -- but at least one could see the logical connection there.
By all means stop discounting rates on second houses, but banning it? What would that achieve? What else might I not have two of?
It seems like the trend in the UK has been towards social control -- diminishing individual freedoms, national ID cards, detention without habeas corpus, threats of satellite monitoring of car usage, irrelevancies like fox hunting -- and away from dealing with fundamentals like housing, education, and health care...
Oh well. What do you think about banning second houses? Have I just been affected by American greed?
It certainly was in this case: I read a commentary by George Monbiot on the Guardian Website in which he has a go at people who own second homes -- for the weekend or whatever. The gist of it is that while discounted council rates for second homes are irritating, the real problem is greed, the reduction in supply of available housing for younger people, and the scourge of homelessness -- the first being the cause of the other two.
I just don't buy it, and I was stunned at the level of vitriol against second-home owners in the comments section. The connection between second homes in the countryside and shortages of housing in the cities and suburbs is unclear to me; this is a supply question and freeing up rural housing probably won't do anything. And I'm not even touching the public health causes of homelessness... Guardianista Polly Toynbee wrote a piece some time ago about how second homes or flats bought to be rented were a scourge on the housing market and thus were a deep social evil driven by greed -- but at least one could see the logical connection there.
By all means stop discounting rates on second houses, but banning it? What would that achieve? What else might I not have two of?
It seems like the trend in the UK has been towards social control -- diminishing individual freedoms, national ID cards, detention without habeas corpus, threats of satellite monitoring of car usage, irrelevancies like fox hunting -- and away from dealing with fundamentals like housing, education, and health care...
Oh well. What do you think about banning second houses? Have I just been affected by American greed?
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