How Socialists Solved The Housing Crisis

American housing is in crisis. With more luxury housing being built every day while huge numbers of people are stuck with substandard homes or none at all, the U.S. model for housing has proven to be a catastrophe. Zohran Mamdani, New York State assemblyman, talks about how Austrian socialists in the 1920s and ‘30s pioneered an approach that offered better, cheaper, and safer homes for everyone.

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0:00 America's Housing Crisis
3:26 The Austrian Example
6:50 What America Can Do

[thespelsheepington]

We need social housing in America. Homlessness is not only a cruelty on the poor, it's costly to all of us.

[TheSuperLegoMan]

when you realise there are more empty homes than homeless people, you know something in our society has gone seriously wrong

[Kaznerh]

I don't understand why Americans are so against giving everyone a home. If your community is stronger and healthier, so is your country.

[andrew.alonzo]

Because so many people overpaid for homes even while loan rates were low, I believe there will be a housing catastrophe because these people are in debt. If housing costs continue to drop and, for whatever reason, they can no longer afford the property and it goes into foreclosure, they have no equity since, even if they try to sell, they will not make any money. I believe that many individuals will experience this, especially given the impending mass layoffs and rapidly rising living expenses.

[BOAiak]

Never let the establishment gaslight you into thinking that hellworld is inescapable.

[cameronikswokark]

I guess you could say capitalism is *housing* the the problem...

[jacobgutierrez]

Damn these socialists seem pretty cool

[wernerharms]

Hello from Germany. We had millions of housing in communal ownership (i.e. owned by the cities) when FRG annected Eastern Germany. Now the number is 80% less, they in main were sold out to companies. Often they were upscaled to luxury housing and therefore became unaffordable for poor people. The average german now pays 30-50% of his wages for rent, depending from the area he lives. And it is still becoming worse.

[alexfirefly]

And don't forget: Vienna wins “City with the best quality of living *in the world*“ like every year!

[constanzeli]

As a person living in Vienna I love seeing such presentations of my city.
It hurts to see tourists strolling the inner city (palaces, churches, horse carriages, blingbling, etc) and they think: this is what makes Vienna the most liveable city?
No! It's affordable living for everyone; social housing in every district and area (therefore no "ghettos"); affordable and smoothly functioning public transport; beautiful parks in every area... to just name a few.

Allthough Social Democrates aren't perfect either, they governed this city since after WWII and genuinly seem to care about peoples quality of living.

[frigginjerk]

It's amazing what can be accomplished in a society that doesn't divert obscene amounts of its wealth to the already-super-rich.

[shs]

I have a rental apartment in social housing complex: 110 square meter, cost 1000 dollar a month, and now when I retire from work, the state pay half of the cost.
I'm so content that I live in Denmark.

[kirillburgardt]

Another world where everyone's needs are met is possible. Also, Zohran did an amazing job presenting.

[DifferentLOL]

As someone from vienna: Thank you for sharing this.
When our country makes it into the news / is mentioned in over-sees media, it's usually for our backwards conservative party, their corruption and their drunktard incompetence.

Being a positive example is refreshing.
Becaause our little red Vienna is different from the rest of the country. And I am pround to be part of that humane and "put the people over profits" side <3

[LibertarianLeninistRants]

here in east germany we still have a lot of housing cooperatives, the people who live in such an apartment get a stake in the cooperative and help with cleaning and decide on what the paid rent is spent (usually only upkeep, thats why is so cheap). and you can ask everyone who ever lived in such cooperative houses - they are good in quality and way better than if you were to rent from a private landlord

[fatlady]

I was born and have lived in Vienna for 60 years. I live in one of the social housing. The house was built in 1930 and I pay € 230 rent a month plus € 25 for energy. The energy company also belongs to the city. The apartment has about 60 m². My monthly pre-tax income is around € 3, 300. I am happy! FRIENDSHIP (Greetings from the Socialists)

[TymonBrownTV]

Imagine actually believing that evictions are ethical, or believing that homelessness is a choice - or even worse, something that people deserve. The housing crisis on its own is enough to utterly condemn capitalism.

[marz]

I like how Gravel Institute engages with their audience instead of preaching from their podium then hiding behind their stardom like every conservative demigogue

[OzCroc]

B-but... Socialism is when no iPhone...
/s if you couldn't tell lol

[rddsknk]

This video is absolutely crushing. Not because I don’t think it’s a good idea (I think it’s an amazing idea actually), but because I know this won’t happen across the US in my lifetime, or ever. Whenever the word “social” is involved anywhere in a program, alarm bells go off in the minds of millions of Americans. They simply can’t fathom the fact that publicly owned operations can be better and cheaper than rampant capitalism. It’s depressing to know what is possible but will never happen because of ignorant citizens and decades of anti-socialist propaganda.