Watching the Biden admin is wild. At one minute he’ll be escalating the wars in the Ukraine and Palestine, but the next he’ll be funding the NLRB and addressing the housing crisis in a way that improves walk-ability.
It’s like, he has two settings: “actually useful moderate” and “KILLKILLKILLKILL”
Unfortunately, this makes him the best US president since carter
I don’t know who you are personally, and you may not realise it, but you’re parroting Russian propaganda. The only one here escalating is Russia when they kept bullying Ukraine and illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. The West have been chastised for letting Putin get away with Crimean annexation, instead of further sanction. Many countries have also thought a charm offensive might satiate Putin, essentially appeasing. But history has shown, appeasement never works because an egomaniac will never be satisfied. Putin thought that he’d get away with it again when he invaded the entirety of Ukraine, but didn’t realise it’s the red line for the West, and the Ukrainians put up a stiff fight.
LOL
Cope
With what exactly?
Russia getting stomped by a much smaller and normally less well equipped army.
If you listen to Russian cope, I’m sure this was all part of their glorious plan.
Show me on the doll where Biden addressed the housing crisis
Jesus Christ, Hexbear.
Biden wants to give money to wealthy landlords so they can build luxury apartments using our tax dollars, so they can rent them out and increase their wealth.
Anyone saying “We need to build more houses” rather than saying “We need to fill the existing houses” has no interest in solving the problem.
Only because the US commercial real estate market is having a really bad time.
I hope the entire industry kicks it and every high-ego low talent pedo relator involved in it will have to live on the street (the irony)
I like how this is finally acknowledging WFH as something that is here to stay but I’m not sure I understand the connection with the housing crisis. From the article:
New York’s famous Flatiron Building will soon be converted from empty offices into luxury residences
Luxury apartments in premium locations is the first thing I would think of too if I were a developer, but their target buyers don’t sound like the sort of people who currently suffer from the housing crisis. But maybe I’m wrong and there will also be developers converting less prestigious office space into affordable housing…
The other thing I don’t get is this: I don’t know Manhattan but I did work in some (I assume) similar business hubs in the middle of overpriced cities and I wonder: are many people going to want to live in expensive converted office spaces if they don’t work near there any longer? I mean if they were given the chance to WFH from anywhere would they still choose Manhattan? Honest question and maybe the answer is yes, because of the restaurants, culture, good schools or whatever… I would personally make different life choices if I could work completely remote, though.
uxury apartments in premium locations is the first thing I would think of too if I were a developer, but their target buyers don’t sound like the sort of people who currently suffer from the housing crisis.
It’ll have a domino effect, more apartments in Manhattan means less people in Brooklyn, Queens, etc. meaning prices go down in the latter boroughs. I live in Jersey City across the Hudson from Manhattan and a large part of the residents here are just people who can’t afford to live in Manhattan.
are many people going to want to live in expensive converted office spaces if they don’t work near there any longer?
Yes, I used to live in a converted office building in Newark NJ (not far from Manhattan) and really loved it. And yes people will always want to live in NYC and especially Manhattan. Many people, myself included simply prefer living in cities. I’ve also looked for apartments in Manhattan and it’s completely different than anywhere else.
I remember watching the SOHO lofts get built sitting in 78e traffic towards Hoboken every morning.
It seemed to me as if it was an old industrial revolution styled office building or warehouse being converted into apartments.
I hope to see more of that in the future
Fuck yes. As a libertarian it bothers me that I can’t make my home in any space I can own.
I understand not building rendering plants next to houses. Some zoning is okay. But there is zero reason why I shouldn’t be able to run a 7-Eleven and sleep on a cot in the back if I so choose.
As a libertarian
Why are you attracted to children?
mixed offices and apartments in the same building sounds good… would cut the commute
I see no way this could go horribly wrong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town
This is another proof that office buildings are an anachronism.
They always were, it’s just corporate landlords stood a lot to lose from them losing prominence so kept them artificially in demand. Went so far to lobby that corporations need to have an office by law, even if their structure doesn’t necessitate one.
Shut the fuck up, Genocidin’ Biden. How about you stop killing kids in the middle east and start taking care of your own citizens for once.
What the actual fuck are you babbling about? Biden went there to tell israel to not do an invasion.
Take care of his own citizens… isnt that exactly what this article is about? Converting office space to residential space?
Take your pills, grandpa.
Whose funding them. Who is funding Israel’s war machine, motherfucker??
Republicans and the corporations that they constantly prop up, thats who, motherfucker.
Republicans LOVE war and genocide.
Next time you think you have something smart to say, shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down, bitch.
Defense != Offense
When you give money to a country that already has funding, they have a habit of reallocating their funds. Also harder to comfortably start an offense when your defenses can be cracked. If you’re still convinced that funding any part of a military doesn’t just make a bigger military, I don’t know what to say.
liberals having a normal one
There are 16,000,000 empty homes and 500,000 homeless. Office buildings aren’t going to be solving any real problem other than the people who own the building being shit out of luck
Where did you get those numbers from? Where is your source?
https://www.gao.gov/homelessness#:~:text=Issue Summary,factors like higher rental prices.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/03/business/economy/us-homeless-population-count.html
https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-homelessness/
https://www.datapandas.org/ranking/homeless-population-by-state
www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/report-how-many-homes-are-sitting-empty-in-your-state/amp/
https://www.nar.realtor/magazine/real-estate-news/16-million-homes-vacant-in-us
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/05/vacant-seasonal-housing.html
There’s no kill like overkill lmao
It all sounds good, but im so jaded now all i can think about is how will the rich find a way to make sure this doesnt lower cost of living for the lower class.
How about… let those corporations EAT those fucking buildings and let’s put that money to use IN THE HANDS OF THE PEOPLE. First time home buyers. Put some federal controls on real estate; mortgage rates; put the skids on the goddam prime rate - there is NO need for that shit… the economy is suffering from PROFITEERING - NOT inflation.
I realize half or more of our elected officials will have to give back bribe money in order to do something for the people that doesn’t doubly do something for their wealthy sponsors.
I know, I know… “just get to earth?”
Wait, so what do we do with the buildings?
They belong to corporations. The corporations don’t get tax breaks if the buildings aren’t used - but they still need to be paid for… which is a huge monetary outlay. Honestly, I don’t care what happens to them and neither should anyone else. Am I sorry that corporations, the SAME corporations fleecing the planet right now with profiteering, are losing money? Hardly. They made the rules - they bought the politicians to enforce the rules- they made their own mess.
Converting office space to living space strains infrastructure in ways not intended by the original intent of the buildings. They can’t put thirty apartments on a single floor of a high rise and have those residents use the same four bathrooms per floor that the offices had. Same with sewage. Same with electrical.
And I reiterate - as soon as the money is distributed to the “developers” - that money - OUR money - is gone… whether it is used for the purpose intended or not.
Keep in mind that trump is a ‘developer’. Do you really think if Biden gave trump “three billion dollars” that trump would use it for what it was intended? Or do you think he’d pocket most of it? And he is a typical ‘developer’ as far as ‘honesty’ is concerned.
Corporations already do hold onto buildings without using them. Because typically real estate goes up in value, especially when there’s scarcity, which there will be if corporations are holding property. This isn’t the solution you think it is.
Corporations already do hold onto buildings without using them.
I don’t think you understand real estate holdings of that nature. Thanks for the response though.
Converting office space to living space strains infrastructure in ways not intended by the original intent of the buildings. They can’t put thirty apartments on a single floor of a high rise and have those residents use the same four bathrooms per floor that the offices had. Same with sewage. Same with electrical.
Water and sewage is a real question, that’s true. From the projects like this that I’m aware of, fire safety is actually the bigger issue, though. Usually sleeping areas are required to have an easier escape route than would be typical in the middle of a big office building. I guess you can add pipes and pumps without too much modification, and offices use plenty of electricity, although probably not in the same pattern.
As for the systemic issues, governments do manage to get things done sometimes. The exact details of such a legislation are more granular than I really would want to hammer out on Lemmy.
I would think a commitment to intelligent solutions such as converting unused warehouse spaces rather than sticking billions of dollars down the “developer” black hole (trump is a “developer”… did you know that? Yeah, that criminal guy - he’s kind of the cream of the crop).
So while government considers once again giving huge handouts to rich property owners does sound appealing, it’s not really.
I would venture a guess that 10% of the “bailout” cash might get used towards… something related to conversion. And that would be that.
How about we NOT bail our some stranded ass rich assholes with our tax dollars and use those dollars wisely - towards fixing the problem rather than making another tax dollar hog trough.
