Patriot Act: Rent in the Time of Coronavirus

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Patriot Act returns to Netflix amid quarantine to talk about how coronavirus is causing a rental crisis in America amid its existing housing problems. For those who are concerned about their area's rental legal protections, the show has created the site Don't Get Kicked Out as a database for how renters can protect themselves from eviction.

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[missjersey]

I never gave a lot of thought to the ethics of renting till COVID and reading ONTD posts w/ discussions. So I want to say thanks to the folks here who have discussed it in a way that's accessible to people like me who have the privilege of not having to worry about rent and never had to growing up.

While for now I'm not in fear of losing my job, my landlord told me in the beginning of April that if there was ever an issue w/ paying that we could work something out. I don't know much but I know I got incredibly lucky with my landlord. He gets things fixed when I tell him about it and has no problem if I'm a few days late on rent (and it's mostly because I forget if I'm busy).

[trynabme]

what is up with the ethics of renting?

[missjersey]

Ethics of renting out places, not being the renter. And someone can explain it better than me, but basically the fact that we live in a country where buildings are being built and/or bought en masse so that the majority of people end up having to rent w/ no other financial option because most can't afford to buy homes. There's a lot more to it (like rent hiking w/out notice) but again I'm just starting to understand it myself so I'm not the best person to ask lol.

[soulhades]

But buying home/building homes is extremely pricy ? So renting is the only other solution

[irajaxon]

the fantasy you're talking about is everyone having a roof over their heads and housing security, and it should absolutely be the goal. the same way it is unethical to have a for-profit medical system, it is unethical to have a for-profit housing system. healthcare and shelter are basic, fundamental human rights.

[soulhades]

I agree, shelter is a basic human right and no one during covid19 or even before should be expelled from their flat if it's to end up in the street. But housing security can be achieved via a better financial support-system for poor people. That's where the main problem lies, that some people have so little money and so little help that they can't even pay their rent.

I mean, I live in Switzerland and even if there's still cases where people can be thrown in the streets in some case (often undocumented poor people which is a huge issue), the system make it that if people ends up pennyless for whatever reason, they can ask for social service to pay their rent (and they have to repay the social service with 0% of interest AND only if they end up finding a job that allow them to start repaying a small amount each month while still being able to pay all their other important bills)

[hahahey]

It’s not about people having enough money, it’s also about the companies building unnecessarily exclusionary housing complexes and overpricing it to make it impossible for people to live. And that’s outside of people buying up property and renting it at twice the price it’s worth or renting it as an exclusive Airbnb

[truth_and_facts]

You're right about cost of rent, in terms of housing there should be 1. Rent control to protect those who can afford to pay rent from scumbag landlords. 2. Large numbers of quality Government housing for those who can't afford rent.
Thinking of abolishing renting all together is not only impossible but also counter-productive.
Just like healthcare, there should always be a quality government provided option for all but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be private practices.