Progressives who want to combat “climate change” aren’t just proposing increased government control over people’s eating and travel habits. Now, they want to target home ownership.
In a recent op-ed printed by far-left magazine The Nation, UCLA Assistant Professor of Urban Planning Kian Goh states that people need to “seriously question the ideal of private home ownership” due to the need to “keep cities safe in the face of climate change”.
The assistant professor goes on to assert that the world only has twelve years to contain global warming, and that people who think that living in a single-family home in a suburban area is a good idea need to rethink their ideas of success, comfort, and home.
The op-ed would be laughable if it isn’t for the fact that there are plenty of far-left activists who actually believe any of it is based on actual facts. However, it follows the same logic that Democratic lawmakers are acting on.
In Virginia, new legislation currently being considered by the state legislature would essentially end single-family-only zoning, allowing duplexes to be built on any plot of land. While the bill is being pitched by some supporters as a way to end “segregation”, others are stating that it is an environmentally-friendly bill that would allow for extra housing to be built near public transport facilities.
Naturally, the wishes of homeowners who would lose green areas of land and peaceful, quiet, safe neighborhoods aren’t actually important. Neither are the concerns of those who want to own their own house on their own tract of land because such desires are apparently not “eco-friendly” in today’s woke world.
In fact, Kian Goh goes further than any state legislature has in the past, advocating for a wide range of government-controlled housing options that no one in their right mind would find attractive. The assistant professor advocates for rental housing, but on the absurd condition that it would be “de-linked from wealth creation.” In other words, landlords can buy houses and rent them out as long as they don’t make money from doing so.
Public housing is yet another option presented to the masses, without regard for the fact that government involvement in private business never turns out well for average individuals. This ideal is currently being backed by Rep. Ilhan Omar, who recently proposed a “Housing for All Act” that would require the U.S. government to spend a whopping $1 trillion on public housing.
Cooperative housing is yet another option to pick from, because being forced to live with random people is just great in a world where people are being increasingly conditions to look out for “microaggressions.”
Home ownership used to be a widely-accepted idea as sensible people on both sides of the aisle understood the importance of having a place to call home. Sadly, that is no longer the case. Progressives are eager to “level the playing field” by making life miserable for anyone who happens to have the money to buy their own home in a suburban area.
Far-left activists on one hand proclaim that “housing is a right,” while at the same time making it clear that “housing” doesn’t mean one’s own home — but rather a government-owned space you have no control over.
