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   Lastly here’s a relevant quote by Bill Mollison on “making peaceful revolutions actually work” from PermacultureMag.org:

 

How Many Rental Spaces Are There?

      There are 43,267,432 renter-occupied households, containing 110,175,847 residents [8], and 3,213,000 vacant rental units. [9]  43,267,432 (renter-occupied households) plus 3,213,000 (vacant rental spaces) = There are approximately 46,480,432 total rental spaces throughout the U.S.

“Renter-occupied structures” include:

• Single-Family Units:  15,194,827 structures with 47,652,188 residents living in them.
• 2 to 4 Units:  7,777,641 households, containing 19,008,529 residents.
• 5 or More Units:  18,299,474 households, containing 37,831,895 residents.
• Mobile Homes:  1,955,026
• Other:  40,464 [8]

The Vague “5 or More Units” Category:

    Alludes to the fact that there are likely many more rental units in the U.S. than the aforementioned equation calculates.  For instance, there are many units such as this:

     The “5 or More Units” category also represents “rental towns” such as Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village in New York City, where (in most cases) all rent allocated to a single landowner &/or group of shareholders:

Click to Enlarge:
Special thanks to “Blackstone to Buy Manhattan’s Stuyvesant Town for $5.3 Billion” by Hui-Yong Yu for the above photo we’re using in accordance with Fair Use,

Examining The Power Structure of Rent:

     Rental situations such those in the above photos are common, and they prevent people from living self-sufficient, sustainable lives while perpetuating vast wealth inequality.  

Diagram of the Power Structure of Rent:
(Click to enlarge)

 

 

[Mathew 5:5, photo graphic from “Militia of the Imaculata“]

“Guaranteed Housing” –
a Long-Forgotten Constitutional Right:

     The “right to homestead” is one of many rights guaranteed by the Ninth Amendment, and the term homestead is technically a legal term devised to prevent one’s home from being able to be foreclosed on (where was that during the 2008 housing collapse!?!?).  Historically under Anglo-Saxon common law, from which U.S. law developed, every person was guaranteed a “homestead.” “Unenumerated rights” such as the right to homestead were adopted into U.S. law at a time in history when statutes were not yet written, yet still these rights remain.

     Many believe homesteading just isn’t feasible, however, because there’s nowhere to legally live these days without paying rent or contracting a mortgage: all the land was bought up before our generation was born!  (10 percent of the U.S. population owns 82% of the real estate, while only 5% of that population owns 75% of that land.[1]).  

    Well, just as the Free Soil Party petitioned Congress to implement a Homestead Act decades before the Homestead Act of 1862 was passed (they also petitioned to end slavery), Wild Willpower PAC is petitioning to enact a two-part housing plan called the Right to Homestead Act, which uses “what we have in place” to make homesteading perfectly feasible:

Part 1: Re-allocates the $20+ billion in Section 8 funds to buy out rental property owners and give rental spaces to tenants.

Part 2: Re-appropriate the 18+ million abandoned properties throughout the U.S. to prospective homesteaders – people willing to fix them up and cultivate the land.

 The Right to Homestead Act goes hand-in-hand with a new proposed public works program we’re petitioning for called Civilian Restoration Corps .; C.R.C employees will perform necessary repairs (e.g. electrical, plumbing, foundation, roofing) and install clean energy units (e.g. solar) onto residential units in every town and city across the country.  In addition, Homesteading Starter Kits and Educational Materials help new homeowners on their path toward self-sufficiency and responsible homeownership.

 

 

Hoover, Amanda. “Your next Landlord Could Be 100 Random People.” Wired, Conde Nast, 30 Mar. 2023, https://www.wired.com/story/arrived-fractional-investment-real-estate/?utm_source=pocket-newtab.