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this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2025
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Hey, if you're interested in this topic, you may wanna read on historical examples of countries where that happened!
In the Soviet Union, for example, housing was guaranteed by the state, and homelessness was abolished. Everyone had a right to at the very least a room in a dormitory. Housing was for the most part obtained through the work union. Jobs were guaranteed and there was no unemployment, and the union at work was in charge of finding a flat for the worker and their family. Monthly rent was around 3% of the average family income by the 1970s, so it was very affordable too. If you're interested, there's a book called "Human Rights in the Soviet Union" by Albert Szymanski which goes into detail in these things!
In Cuba, housing is also guaranteed. A friend of mine (I'm Spanish so my friend speaks Spanish too) went to visit the country, and he had a conversation with some university students. On the one hand, the university students couldn't believe that my friend's family had two cars, they thought he was rich when in fact that's rather common for a middle-income family in Spain. On the other hand, they couldn't believe that my friend, at 22 years old at the time, was still living with his parents while studying at university. In Cuba, if you get a position as a university student, you get assigned housing for free while you study.
So yeah, just some perspectives of countries that actually managed to solve the problem of housing for everyone as a right
I don't think you can say the Soviet Union solved anything.
I'm afraid I don't follow you. If homelessness was abolished and essentially everyone in a country with 300 million people was housed, why can't I say that housing was solved?
Incredible!
If only we applied your thought process to other areas.
For example, did you know that the Soviet Union had less gun violence than the United States does? This must mean we should be more like the Soviet Union!
No, for what it's worth, no we should not be more like the Soviet Union. They used gun control to quell rebellion and killed millions. Numbers do not paint the picture you think they do, they represent what was recorded. There are plenty of reasons to question those records, if you actually take the time to think about it.
What historical event in particular are you talking about?
Which records in particular are you talking about? The book I used as a source uses almost exclusively western studies as sources.
Depends? I'm not saying "let's replicate every policy of the Soviet Union", but they did guarantee housing for everyone, free and quality education to the highest level, free healthcare for everyone, and public retirement plans for every individual. Why wouldn't you want to be more like those things?
Like, what are the other options? Homes seem mandatory for societal and economic interaction.
I'm enough of a socdem that the hexbear types ban me at first sight when I comment in their communities, but I'm still of the opinion that everyone is entitled to have A home. Something that is reasonably sized given the location, and there may be compromises in location itself (not everyone is going to fit in Manhattan after all). So an apartment in NYC or a single family home in flyover states somewhere. This is just using the US as an example because it's so culturally dominant, I think everyone knows what NYC is like. Everyone should be able to live in a home that affords them basic human dignity.
Now rich people can still have their mansions or whatever, but they'll have to pay for the privilege. The rest of us, if content with the aforementioned social housing, wouldn't have to pay. There would still be premium developments. Premium apartments or houses to rent or buy. But there would be no more profiting off the working class's basic need for shelter.
I'm a hexbear type and your take is quite reasonable, but I'd just say you're very, very far to the left compared to a socdem. If you think universal housing is an imperative, you probably already share more with the hexbear types than with the .world types, just my two cents.
I do still support some aspects of capitalism and the free market. I'm of the opinion that society should guarantee everyone the basics and then those who want can build extra wealth for all I care. Just not through outright exploitation.
I don't know if there's a specific label for my beliefs, as I'm not too into political theory.
I'm not gonna go all Marxist on you regarding the exploitation of the workers by capitalists in the Marxist sense, but I'll ask you this: what about the people in the global south? Do you believe that countries in South America, Africa, Middle East or South-East Asia are being exploited by the western world?
But there must be ads on every inch of the house until you purchase premium. Cmon, you can't just exist without suffering. What would be the point of life, if not torture?
To maximise shareholder value of course!
That sounds great, devil's advocate want to know how we do get projects.
Uhh hives? We could all start burrowing into the ground and living in communal tunnelways connected to nest rooms and grain storages.
In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit.