Reason I’m asking is because I have an aunt that owns like maybe 3 - 5 (not sure the exact amount) small townhouses around the city (well, when I say “city” think of like the areas around a city where theres no tall buildings, but only small 2-3 stories single family homes in the neighborhood) and have these houses up for rent, and honestly, my aunt and her husband doesn’t seem like a terrible people. They still work a normal job, and have to pay taxes like everyone else have to. They still have their own debts to pay. I’m not sure exactly how, but my parents say they did a combination of saving up money and taking loans from banks to be able to buy these properties, fix them, then put them up for rent. They don’t overcharge, and usually charge slightly below the market to retain tenants, and fix things (or hire people to fix things) when their tenants request them.
I mean, they are just trying to survive in this capitalistic world. They wanna save up for retirement, and fund their kids to college, and leave something for their kids, so they have less of stress in life. I don’t see them as bad people. I mean, its not like they own multiple apartment buildings, or doing excessive wealth hoarding.
Do leftists mean people like my aunt too? Or are they an exception to the “landlords are bad” sentinment?
Especially those that own a couple houses as “investment”. Housing should not be an investment. With the big companies you could argue at least that they are also building houses, which we need since the government wont build enough. Not saying they arent parasites either though.
I agree, housing shouldn’t be an investment. But I also think utilities should not be a “for profit” bussiness. I think clean air and water should be a human right, as with food. I think UBI should be a thing, basically most of capitalist stuff should go away.
However, people in a capitalistic world we live in grew up and taught by society with the idea that everything you can legally buy is a legit investment. This isn’t really the individual’s fault, this is society’s fault for telling everyone its okay to use housing, water, food, utilities, healthcare, and everything else, as a way to earn profits.
Like I think we cant really blame any individual, but its the fault of capitalism as a whole.