Michael, I'm not sure if you ever had reading composition and/or reading comprehension courses. Here is the first line of your comment that I responded to:
"Unfortunately, you (and people and companies like you) are one of the core reasons why young people can't buy affordable housing."
[my emphasis]
If your comment had been, "Unfortunately, people and companies like you are one of the core reasons why young people can't buy affordable housing" then possibly I could buy your backtracking of "You as an individual are not the problem."
That was NOT what you wrote. You wrote: "You (and...)." That is you addressing me as an individual.
You are also wrong about mom-and-pop rental owners. To top it off, your analogy with trucks is both misleading and misplaced. Why use an analogy at all if your argument holds water? Oh, right - because your argument does not hold water.
The housing price crisis started when large VC and financial giants started buying up huge tranches of houses. It has been exacerbated by corporate home owner groups colluding with each other to fix prices in entire markets. This is in the courts right now.
These two issues drive up the prices of both rental apartments and homes. The increase in the former has an effect on the possibility of saving for the latter.
Mom-and-pop (2-5 rental properties) are not the problem. As with emissions, it is a few huge players that cause 70-90% of the problem. It is people like you who blame the general public and say, "You have to change" when me - and everyone like me - getting rid of our rental property would not solve the problem.
Your analogy with trucks does nothing to forward your argument.
Collective action DOES matter. We have collectively elected representatives who are corrupt and beholden to big finance groups who are making fortunes off high living costs. Mom-and-pop rental property ownership levels have had minor increases over the decades. What HAS changed is the HUGE year-over-year increase in corporate property ownership.
The massive increases in corporate property ownership track directly with the massive increase in rents an home costs. It ain't my fucking fault, Michael.
