alt Hacker NewsDoesn't matter at all how much it is. It'll be (almost entirely or entirely) eaten by landlords.
I am a landlord.
I am setting prices for renewal.
I have come to learn that 100% of my possible customer base now has $200/mo more to spend.
I raise prices $200/mo with absolute certainty that I will find a renter.
Congrats, mission accomplished.
Replies
> I am a landlord.
> I am setting prices for renewal.
Landlords do not really set prices arbitrarily, especially not in HCOL areas where most of the cost is land rent. The rent is set by the market, and if there's a new UBI only a negligible fraction of it will go towards rent. Rents might even decrease since any given UBI amount will go a lot further in a lower-COL area, which incents people to move out (reversing gentrification dynamics) and creates future opportunities for job creation in these economically depressed areas where such opportunities are most clearly needed.
How do you control what other landlords do? Why won't any undercut you by $200 and get your tenants?
That extra 200 will also allow some people to move to a rural area, decreasing demand, which means you won't find a renter.
Unless of course that UBI is funded by a land value tax.
I am a progessive state government.
I am considering legislation for the next fiscal year.
I have come to learn that 100% of private landlords have increased their rents by the full amount of the UBI we introduced last year.
I ban private rentals and/or private ownership of homes and/or introduce strict rent control policies (depending on precisely how progressive we're feeling this year).
Congrats, mission accomplished.