Tim Worstall

Public Housing Should Be Crap

So, I wandering through a graduate text on poverty ( as you do…Poverty and Discrimination, Kevin Lang.) and I come across this:

However, if government offers subsidized housing, people who have significant resources will prefer the higher-quality housing available at the market price to the lower-quality housing available at the subsidized price. In this way, government can put fewer resources into identifying who is really poor and may be more effective at targeting resources at the truly poor.

So council and other forms of social housing should intentionally be crap so as to make the best use of scarce resources.

Interesting, don’t you think?

In

8 responses

  1. Francis Avatar
    Francis

    Amazing how our ancestors figured this out when they invented the workhouse without any help from economists, sociologists etc. etc.

    Reply
  2. Surreptitious Evil Avatar
    Surreptitious Evil

    It is also why military ration packs are nutritious & convenient but (generally) taste poor – as soon as they make them appetising, they walk straight out of the warehouse.
    At least, that’s the excuse. Now about the bromide in the tea …
    S-E

    Reply
  3. Marcin Tustin Avatar
    Marcin Tustin

    Actually, it wouldn’t have to be worse in the sense of being “crap,” just less convenient, such as by charging for permission to redecorate, and things like that.

    Reply
  4. Roger Thornhill Avatar
    Roger Thornhill

    I don’t think ‘crap’ is the right term.
    Basic. Utilitarian. Cramped even. People should want to get out of them asap.
    What boils my fluids is the notion of “duty of care” so we end up with State tenants that get better kitchens, decoration and a free upgrade to a larger property if they collect enough DNA coupons (called ‘children’) etc. than independent individuals.
    I still believe one of the keys to all of this is to not give additional housing space once a family gets State housing. If you want more rooms, go rent outside.

    Reply
  5. Pete Avatar
    Pete

    No need to worry about whether public housing should or shouldn’t be crap. Most of it is, just as most government provided services are. That’s the way it is, and why people with money minimise their use of public provision such as housing, healthcare, pensions and education.

    Reply
  6. Kay Tie Avatar
    Kay Tie

    Social housing is crap, regarless of the housing, by definition: the one thing that it is constant about social housing is the neighbours!

    Reply
  7. Mark Wadsworth Avatar
    Mark Wadsworth

    Roger T, Kay Tie, seconded.

    Reply
  8. Jim Avatar
    Jim

    One of the things I find fascinating about social housing is how much higher an opinion of it is held by people who actually use it than by people who don’t but who nevertheless feel entitled to spout off about it like they never would about any other service they don’t use.

    Reply

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