Paramount Theatre
Extreme Inequality
RECEIVED Fri., April 22, 2016
Dear Editor,
The excellent April 15 article on the plight of very low-income renters and their lack of power in Texas [“Fighting to Stay,” News] pointed out the extreme inequality in tenant-landlord relations. Aureliano Buendía makes excellent points about this being a piece of a bigger picture. The fact is, the “market” does not work for rental housing. By definition, if “market” rent and “affordable” rent are two very different numbers, the market is not working. The main problem is our system of land ownership. I am a landlord (renting well below market rates) so those who claim I am speaking from sour grapes are wrong. Only what Liberation Catholicism calls a “preferential option for the poor” can work for extreme low-income housing. This could be established with taxes, zoning, or establishment of community trusts. The need is for our legislators to live their purported Christianity and not block any local attempts to regulate land use with a thumb on the poor renter side, provided by government. The present system too heavily favors landlords. The destruction of lower-rent complexes on Lakeshore Drive should never have been allowed. As with payment for medical care, rental housing is not well-served by the market and it is a proper function of city government to help right the power imbalance.
The excellent April 15 article on the plight of very low-income renters and their lack of power in Texas [“Fighting to Stay,” News] pointed out the extreme inequality in tenant-landlord relations. Aureliano Buendía makes excellent points about this being a piece of a bigger picture. The fact is, the “market” does not work for rental housing. By definition, if “market” rent and “affordable” rent are two very different numbers, the market is not working. The main problem is our system of land ownership. I am a landlord (renting well below market rates) so those who claim I am speaking from sour grapes are wrong. Only what Liberation Catholicism calls a “preferential option for the poor” can work for extreme low-income housing. This could be established with taxes, zoning, or establishment of community trusts. The need is for our legislators to live their purported Christianity and not block any local attempts to regulate land use with a thumb on the poor renter side, provided by government. The present system too heavily favors landlords. The destruction of lower-rent complexes on Lakeshore Drive should never have been allowed. As with payment for medical care, rental housing is not well-served by the market and it is a proper function of city government to help right the power imbalance.
Tom Cuddy
