this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2025
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Hey, if you're interested in this topic, you may wanna read on historical examples of countries where that happened!
In the Soviet Union, for example, housing was guaranteed by the state, and homelessness was abolished. Everyone had a right to at the very least a room in a dormitory. Housing was for the most part obtained through the work union. Jobs were guaranteed and there was no unemployment, and the union at work was in charge of finding a flat for the worker and their family. Monthly rent was around 3% of the average family income by the 1970s, so it was very affordable too. If you're interested, there's a book called "Human Rights in the Soviet Union" by Albert Szymanski which goes into detail in these things!
In Cuba, housing is also guaranteed. A friend of mine (I'm Spanish so my friend speaks Spanish too) went to visit the country, and he had a conversation with some university students. On the one hand, the university students couldn't believe that my friend's family had two cars, they thought he was rich when in fact that's rather common for a middle-income family in Spain. On the other hand, they couldn't believe that my friend, at 22 years old at the time, was still living with his parents while studying at university. In Cuba, if you get a position as a university student, you get assigned housing for free while you study.
So yeah, just some perspectives of countries that actually managed to solve the problem of housing for everyone as a right
I'm afraid I don't follow you. If homelessness was abolished and essentially everyone in a country with 300 million people was housed, why can't I say that housing was solved?
Incredible!
If only we applied your thought process to other areas.
For example, did you know that the Soviet Union had less gun violence than the United States does? This must mean we should be more like the Soviet Union!
No, for what it's worth, no we should not be more like the Soviet Union. They used gun control to quell rebellion and killed millions. Numbers do not paint the picture you think they do, they represent what was recorded. There are plenty of reasons to question those records, if you actually take the time to think about it.
You couldn't resist the temptation to sneak in that completely irrelevant bit about "gun control". You've overplayed your hand.
Overplayed my hand?
No, dipshit — I've just got a clear grasp on reality.
What historical event in particular are you talking about?
Which records in particular are you talking about? The book I used as a source uses almost exclusively western studies as sources.
Depends? I'm not saying "let's replicate every policy of the Soviet Union", but they did guarantee housing for everyone, free and quality education to the highest level, free healthcare for everyone, and public retirement plans for every individual. Why wouldn't you want to be more like those things?
And their entire system fucking collapsed. And yes, the U.S. is a part of the reason for that collapse — but if you're seriously sitting here trying to suggest it was the reason, you are actually fucking dumb. Like, go talk to someone that lived in the Soviet Union — dumb.
Let me make this clear, I'm not giving you a history lesson — I'm also not sifting through Eastern sources because I'm not a dipshit. I shouldn't have to explain why a govt. that wantonly murders the people that work for it probably doesn't have records you can trust.
I'll be trusting Western sources. Not dipshits on Lemmy who have circlejerked on .ml for too long. Fuckin flat earth wannabes.
If you want western sources, go ahead and look through the sources of Albert Szymanski's "Human Rights in the Soviet Union", you'll be surprised. Go ahead and do your reading if you so care about sources.
Less collapsed and more illegally and antidemocratically dissolved against the wishes of the majority or Soviet peoples as of the Soviet permanence referendum. The Soviet Union survived 27 million deaths in their struggle against Nazism, it didn't "collapse" because muh economy and housing.
Regardless: I'm not necessarily arguing for the organization of the US state in a similar fashion to that of the USSR, I'm giving you historical sources on countries which effectively SOLVED HOMELESSNES and rent pricing, as per the post. Maybe the US could copy some of that policy without copying the rest if you don't wanna?