Any new housing is still helpful for alleviating the crunch. If a rich people see a fancy new apartment and move in, that leaves the old places they had occupied available to be rented or bought and they have to be offered at a relative discount to what they would have been otherwise because the rich people prefer the fancy new place. (Note: if people in that area are snapping up housing at a faster rate than housing is being made available, that would still manifest as rising prices but with the prices rising at a slower rate than they would have otherwise.) That’s an opportunity for the less rich people to secure a spot where the rich people used to be, so they move out of their older and less nice places and so on to relocate. Within five years or so that propagates down the vacancy chain and opens up low income housing as well.
Also many times any kind of new apartment is called “luxury” as a marketing gimmick since it’s not really a controlled term and it makes people think of it as a more attractive place to live.
More housing needs to be built to alleviate the housing crisis. Unfortunately with housing also doubling for many as their largest investment and a retirement vehicle all rolled in one, people get absolutely furious if anything is done that would appreciably reduce the price of housing. Because homeowners make up so much of society and particularly politically influential society those interests are very politically difficult to take on.
i’d argue that’s there’s nothing depressing about homelessness if you divorce it from cultural ideas about the housed, the houseless, comfort and class and laws.
what are you lacking if you have no home? no netflix? no bed? people survived without those things for thousands of years. what they’re lacking is dignity and freedom.
you have no agency as a living being when you’re ‘homeless’–you can’t hunt here because it’s owned land; you can’t park here because it’s owned land, you can’t build a shelter because it’s owned land, etc.
without those restrictions plenty of people would choose to be homeless.
I would rather have a shitty roof over my head than no roof.
Brutalism may not be the most aesthetically pleasing architecture style but, damn, did it house a lot of people who would’ve died.
It’s also always a picture from mid-winter times. Never one from summer or springs
Not like those soviet blocks didnt look depressing in summer. It is much better nowadays tho, be it plenty are still depressive all year round.
I will stand ten toes down to defend that brutalism, as the philosophy of being honest with your material usage, is the most Beautiful form of architecture.
Most people will agree that mid century architecture is one of America’s most beautiful designs. The school of thought behind all famous mid century architecture is always that of honest material usage.
Now what does honest materials mean? It means when you’re using wood, you emphasize the grain. If you’re using metals, you embrace it’s utility. Stainless steel conveys surgical levels of cleanliness. When using brass or copper, the patina is expected. Stonework, isn’t used as a façade. The inclusion of masonry is obviously structural, and it’s implementation is deliberate and planned out like a painting.
I mean sure but philosophical honesty in architecture ≠ aesthetically pleasing
All the recent major condo/apartment builds near me in Florida has been quite dishonest while appearing brutalist. They build huge wood frame buildings the plaster it like its solid block. Everyone I know talks about how they expect devastation in a hurricane for those structures. Also, firewalls are apparently a thing of the past. And none of these cost cutting homes are for working people. They are for 55+ communities or high price condos.
Yes, this infuriates me to no end. The whole “modern” aesthetic is dishonesty. And they have the gall to call their glorified tinder boxes luxury too. The word completely lost it’s meaning.
I know several very conservative people that believe all government buildings, or ones that receive any government funding, should be featureless concrete rectangles with no other whatsoever.
So i didn’t know what this dude’s talking about .
As if you can equate an architectural style to a political philosophy.
I would rather have a few boring tall buildings and lots of nature than lots of single family homes and way less nature.
“Communism bad because [thing that happens in capitalism]*”, vol. 69
Meanwhile, in God’s Own Chosen Land, all apartment complexes are one of two shitty design options and we get fleeced for the “privilege” of living there. Fuck it all, dammit
Don’t forget that they’re marketed as “Luxury Apartments” because the appliances were made in the last 10 years.
Here I thought it was cause you have the luxury of paying rent on them
It’s the luxury of breathing in mold spores from inside the walls and under the landlord special coat of paint
“These are boutique spores, you won’t find these anywhere else in this city. For the privilege of being able to breathe them in you owe me an extra $200 per month.”
Plus a fee for the luxury of paying him online, the only payment option
“Don’t forget to tip your landlord”
I ordered a replacement part for an electronic device I have that was on the fritz… Online… And there was a tip field at the end. As of there will even be a human involved in any of the order processing up until a person moves out from the van to my doorstep
There are far better options for visually pleasant housing than these Soviet Union era blocks.
Like, seeing so many of these in Poland or other post-Soviet countries is just sad. They’re grey, neglected, and the people who are forced to choose them don’t have any other option.
We could have affordable housing that has some proper aesthetics. Just got to take care of the real estate developer mafias around the world first.
Like Finland. Their recently built public housing is pretty aesthetically pleasing
That’s in part because they are far past their original designed lifespan, as these were meant to give everyone a house. Despite their other egregious excesses, the Soviets at least said they believed in housing as a human right, and implemented policies to that effect. Not only for building housing at record rates with innovative prefab construction, but also for upkeep of those buildings.
That is in stark contrast to the radical chicago school of economics “reforms” after the collapse of the soviet union, which basically created an oligarchy overnight. Those buildings were sold for pennies at private auctions to private landlords. Whole populations who used to have the security of free public housing, suddenly found themselves having to rent the house they have always lived in. Meanwhile those landlords never have nor will invest anything in upkeep, which likely accelerated the deterioration of these buildings significantly.
I do agree social housing should if possible be beautiful. However, the first concern should always be to build enough of it so everyone who wants housing can get it. Most of the western world is in a deep housing crisis, so IMO any social housing is beautiful.
It would be relatively cheap and easy to retrofit them with moss/fern panel facades or other types of plants. Improves the visual appeal while also contributing to cleaner air and cooler temperatures, and creating food/habitat for wildlife.
There’s really no reason not to do it.
Don’t ferns take a lot of maintenance effort? Moss too, though perhaps to prevent it from invading other parts of the structure
Depends on the variety. Ideally you would choose a local species that’s adapted to the environment and not aggressive. One that can thrive in the peculiar conditions of a vertical wall with very little if any substrate. And if there’s nothing that suits it perfectly, you can genetically engineer something. Or choose a different type of plant.
There are options, and it’s been done before so it’s not like this is just scifi.
Yes, but then where would we get depressing propaganda pictures to frighten people who are curious about socioeconomic systems other than giving rich people whatever they want.
Easy, just use GenAI (/s)
They also have an accessibility issue because anything 5 stories or less does not have an elevator and smaller cities would often build tons of those 5 story ones, meaning all the cheap-ish apartments are 4th or 5th floor.
I’ve seen a few here in Estonia that went through renovations to become much nicer than new, but you’re still stuck with some things structurally that aren’t all great and despite kredex funding assistance, most of those buildings are stuck with 10-25 year loans after those renovations, making them a bit more expensive to live in.
And they don’t necessarily solve homelessness anyway. For example in the US there are significantly more vacant homes than homeless people.
Homeless people need a lot more help than just a roof over their heads. In places where they don’t allow drunk people in shelters and there are winters, they have homeless people in the summer, but not necessarily in the winter when it’s too cold to be drinking outside. Mental health issues tend to be a large factor in someone becoming permanently homeless vs temporarily due to financial difficulties (the latter often means couchsurfing till you get a new job, etc). And being surrounded by commie blocks can’t be good for your mental health, they definitely make me feel depressed and I’m glad I’ve never had to live in one.
Fuck these old commie blocks, we can do better without significantly worse costs per unit.
Homeless people need a lot more help than just a roof over their heads
Sure, but it’s a lot easier to deal with many of those issues when you don’t have to also worry about having a roof over your head.
I’d posit a lot of homeless issues can start from just not having a hub to safely have things stored, and build a sense of safety. I look at the carts the homeless move around, and it looks like hoarding until I realize it’s less than a tenth of the stuff in my home I wouldn’t want to part with.
Go to the poor neighborhood in any city in America and its just as sad. Go to a poor rural area and it’s worse.
Criminalised homelessness that enslaves you in the prison system
So American Homelessness…
A further “bonus” is that once you get a conviction on record it makes it even harder to get out of homelessness by not only making it incredibly difficult to get a job but also any place you might rent that does a background check.
It’s a vicious cycle of worse and worse outcomes.
I was homeless for 8 years (January actually marked 8 years being in my apartment) and I saw that cycle constantly.
Same comrade…so many amazing people I’ve known are either dead or locked up for extended sentences because of that cycle. We were the rarities that actually made it out!
the first fallacy is that this was “left-wing” architecture.
It was just boring architecture from Russia, built rapidly during a time of extreme homelessness. And it addressed that problem more than fatcat hate.
Everything they don’t like is left wing. Their brain doesn’t function beyond that.
“People in America really will spend $5,000 on a sweater. No piece of clothing should cost $5,000. You know what should cost $5,000? A car. And you know who should build that car? The same people that currently build $500,000 cars. The best and most talented among us should do the work that benefits the most amount of people for what good is everything to everyone who can’t afford it”
Kanye West
classic case of a broken clock being right twice a day
Before he completely lost it he was a super good dude that use to preach a lot of really good messages
Said right before he dropped a $245 pair of goddamned sneakers…
He wanted his shoes to be affordable but nobody would let him do it
He was trying to make an entire Yeezy fashion brand that unlike other celebrity sponsored clothes was going to be affordable so that kids could actually afford it
But the companies that did work with him wouldn’t let him have full control like he wanted so the shoes were limited run, pricy, etc… and eventually he kind of had to do it himself which means it had to be expensive. It was his dream to build it up so that he could make $30 T-Shirts and $60 shoes
But Bipolar is a real bitch and well, without his medicine, he pretty much just lost his mind
Shaq already paved the way to do that. Kanye could have easily followed a similar path.
Shaq was an athlete so companies approached him
Kanye was a rapper who was reaching out to shoe companies with an idea
Shaq approached Payless Shoes to launch his own brand instead of extending his contract with Reebok. That’s why Shaq shoes were only $40.
I’m not Kanye or an executive so I don’t have all the details but…
At the time Kanye was doing this entire publicity tour about how he wanted to launch a low-cost fashion line. $30 T-Shirts, $60 shoes. Things kids could actually afford
But then it turned into him going around to TV shows and Radio programs talking about how nobody wants to let him do this. I believe this is when he got in a big fight on air with the DJs of some big show.
So it’s not like this was a one time remark he said, he tried this for a long time; constantly comparing his struggles to him becoming a rapper. How everyone wanted to buy his beats but nobody would let him record an album. “You just make beats” they said. Then he finally got to make an album and it’s an overnight classic. And then he did it again, and again, and again
Now he wants to do fashion and they say, “You just rap, you don’t do fashion”. But just how he became a great rapper he was positive he could make a great fashion line if someone, anyone, would give him the chance
Eventually he had to make the limited-time, high quality shit he made… with the goal of earning enough, making a name for himself, to launch the lower-cost line he always dreamed of
But somewhere between then and now he had a massive manic episode and apparently never took his medicine. So now he’s just out there, manic as shit, doing and saying whatever crazy shit pops into his head
…
And… you actually believe that? That he couldn’t find a company to make his sneakers but for cheaper than Nike?yeah, it was a pretty big deal at the time
He wasn’t an athlete so no clothing or shoe company came to him, he just wanted to do it and was approaching them. To which they basically said, “you’re a rapper not a fashion designer”. While they were OK putting his name on shoes, they weren’t OK with letting him take control and set the price points and stuff
I’m sorry, I was unclear. The part where Nike didn’t give up creative or manufacturing (or distribution) control is totally believable - the part I’m struggling to find credible is that he couldn’t then find anyone willing to agree to manufacture shoes to his specs and then let him arrange for distribution. That’s… just not how that works. Donald “the rapist” Trump can figure out how to do that, but Ye couldn’t?
I can totally believe nobody came to him about it, but all that means is he didn’t want to work with a generic brand he approached. It would have been almost trivial to solve the problem if he were serious about an affordable clothing brand, rather than a trendy clothing brand.
I don’t know all of the details but I do remember him pushing this hard… going on talk shows, going on the radio, etc… and nobody would bite
He kept telling the story about how he use to just make beats and nobody would believe he could rap. Now he’s a big rapper trying to make fashion and nobody believes he can do it. In fact I believe this is when he got in that big fight on the radio with the DJs
So the story was always that he wanted to make a Yeezy brand of clothes and shoes but keep the price low so that kids could afford it, but nobody wanted to work with him. Sounds like they were happy to slap his name on expensive clothes but not cheap stuff; and nothing long-term, short-term limited run type of thing
I’m not Kanye or an executive at Nike so I don’t have all the details, but that is what he was preaching at the time
Kanye was a good dude. But he’s Bipolar and he doesn’t take his medicine so he’s crazy as shit now
Okay look, I’m sorry, but he was lying. Just straight up, he was full of shit. What he is describing being unable to find is called called DFMA or Private Label Manufacturing - and I’m failing to think up an industry where its more common than footwear (probably electronics). It is completely the norm in shoe manufacturing and it has been for decades.
What it sounds like is he didn’t want “cheap Yeezys the kids could afford”, he wanted “cheap nike Yeezys kids could afford”. And while Nike will do collabs, they absolutely do not do PL/DFMA. The most charitable read is that he wanted to bring the prestigious brands to the masses and like… good fantasy, but it would have been damn near trivial for him to find someone to make the shoes for much lower prices, which begs the question why didn’t he?
And, as someone with Bipolar 1 too, I can tell you that going off your meds doesn’t turn you into someone with a consistent message. Individual incidents could be excused, except they’re all the same thing - he’s had state dinners with trump, has claimed to be a nazi, denies the holocaust and went to the fuckin’ wall to defend his “brother” (no, he clarified he meant it like they were siblings) Diddy. No dude, he’s been a bastard for years, and he’s just had a great PR team.
There are no good billionaires, and if there were, Kanye “Bill Cosby Is Innocent!!!” ([2015](https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/10/entertainment/kanye-west-bill-cosby-innocent-tweet/)) West sure as hell wouldn’t be one of them.
some sort of communism = left wing, propaganda. who built those boxes? why?
The answer usually is the Soviet Union. And the why is usually because it was cheaper to do it that way.
What’s more interesting is the way liberal built housing in America is done where they tend to purposely make the housing a little bit shitty so that poor people can’t feel like they live in good housing because it would be wrong to “get something worthwhile for nothing”. Because even the liberals in the United States are a bunch of capitalist assholes.
I’m pretty sure a lot of the people mocking socialist architecture became really quiet when a data center was dropped next to their suburb.
People of that opinion should really read Brian Goldstone’s “There is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America.” Compared to other G7 countries, US is, indeed, a shithole country.
🇺🇸But it’s the greatest shithole nation! 🇺🇸
Of all the shithole countries it’s certainly exceptional in its shittyness
Gonna check it out thanks for the suggestion!
