Property: The Capitalist's Excuse for Logic

[cyu]

http://obrag.org/?p=690

due to the mortgage crisis and rise in foreclosures, America now has a record number of vacant homes

the total number of vacant U.S. properties hit 18.6 million. there are 3.5 million homeless people in this country. that’s 5 1/3 empty homes for every homeless person.

This system sure is working, isn’t it?

http://threesonorans.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/430372_191077704335675_100003003395041_299609_1756 790254_n.jpg

[hetz]

Doesn't America have a tax on unused property? That should be introduced, because then the owners would have to pay for not renting out empty places.
That, with some state subsidies for housing.

[Comrade #138672]

Doesn't America have a tax on unused property? That should be introduced, because then the owners would have to pay for not renting out empty places.
That, with some state subsidies for housing.Is that going to help the homeless people? They're probably not going to be able to afford it anyway.

[RedMaterialist]

Doesn't America have a tax on unused property? That should be introduced, because then the owners would have to pay for not renting out empty places.
That, with some state subsidies for housing.

The socialists should be leading the homeless to occupy and live in the vacant homes.

[cyu]

socialists should be leading the homeless to occupy and live in the vacant homes

http://occupyourhomes.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Our_Homes

It has been compared to the direct action taken by people to prevent home foreclosures during the Great Depression in the United States.

The movement has its roots in the 1970s, when declining working-class incomes and a lack of bank financing for low-rent properties left thousands of New York City buildings abandoned and hundreds of former tenants squatted vacant buildings

A similar group based in Miami, Take Back the Land, has been working to block evictions, and rehousing homeless people in foreclosed houses since 2007.

On December 6, 2011, members of Occupy Atlanta began an occupation of the home of Brigitte Walker, a former Army Staff Sergeant who was medically discharged in 2007. Unable to keep up with payments on her reduced salary, her home was scheduled to be auctioned off on January 3. By late December hundreds of other foreclosure victims were being defended by local branches of the Occupy movement.

Conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart said the movement's new focus is "fomenting civil unrest, fomenting class warfare"

Sonia Katyal and Eduardo Peñalver compared the occupation of foreclosed homes to earlier social protests that brought about positive change.

Astra Taylor wrote:
Not only does the occupation of abandoned foreclosed homes connect the dots between Wall Street and Main Street, it can also lead to swift and tangible victories, something movements desperately need. The banks, it seems, are softer targets than one might expect because so many cases are rife with legal irregularities and outright criminality.