18.6 Million Empty Houses in America
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 04.29.08
Empty Houses, Buffalo, New York Times
That is what the census says. Andrew Leonard in Salon notes that it is a bit misleading, that "4.7 million are for "seasonal use" only, the Census tells us -- unoccupied vacation homes, in other words. 4.1 million are for rent, 2.3 million are for sale, and the remaining 7.5 million "were vacant for a variety of other reasons."
The census also lists the total number of homeless in America as 759,101, so there are 24 empty houses for every homeless person in America. What a shocking misallocation of resources, materials and energy. ::How the World Works
How many of those are in New Orleans?
Anyone have any figures for the UK? (or elsewhere, for that matter)
Thank the market. Owned as investments (by non-occupiers), not as places to live.
Add to the homeless all those who are stuck renting (thanks to the investor-driven inflated prices).
Force the owners to sell, I say, but only to occupiers, or some kind of affordable housing association.
The photo paints one picture, but in my city, the newest McMansions are the empty houses - 5000 sq. ft. monsters with green mucky swimming pools. The run down cheap houses are full of renters.
I wonder if there is a business here. There are companies around who will "de-construce" your house, have the value of the parts appraised and give you a tax credit for the value.
I wonder if some of these houses could be bought by wealthy individuals looking for a tax credit for a few dollars, de-constructed, and they get the tax write-off? Maybe the land could be donated to a land-trust and turned back into park or open space?
Truth is most of the homeless people cannot financially affort the houses.
I think government should really think about stop over expanding city/suburb There're older towns out there that has low population (I'm not talking about those sticks out in the country). The more spaces, privacy and freedom people want means to more remote some people would live.
The more land it's developed, the less plantation there'll be.
How exactly does the census get an accurate count of the homeless?