A house is a shitcoin if you view it as a means to becoming wealthy. The US Federal government began promoting home ownership in the 80s, allegedly because bureaucrats noticed that a big difference between lower-class people and middle-class people is that the latter own homes. In typical government reversal of cause and effect, the US began promoting home-ownership as a means to becoming wealthy enough to become middle-class
The irony is that US housing policies push a lot of people into homeless, because (a) many homes near worthwhile jobs have become too expensive for lower-class people; and (b) many lower-class people work jobs that vanish during recessions, which results in them losing their homes.
All that being said, the real reason that all nation-states promote home ownership is because property taxes are the primary means to funding local governments. In order to maintain cities filled with tens of millions of people, you need billions of dollars of tax revenue. Sales taxes and local income taxes aren't enough. You have to tax the most important asset that humans own: their shelter. But shotgun shacks aren't valuable enough, so nation-states push people to buy more expensive homes, so cities can charge higher property taxes.
National housing policies over the last 40 years have been a quiet bailout of cities.
A house is a shitcoin if you view it as a means to becoming wealthy. The US Federal government began promoting home ownership in the 80s, allegedly because bureaucrats noticed that a big difference between lower-class people and middle-class people is that the latter own homes. In typical government reversal of cause and effect, the US began promoting home-ownership as a means to becoming wealthy enough to become middle-class
The irony is that US housing policies push a lot of people into homeless, because (a) many homes near worthwhile jobs have become too expensive for lower-class people; and (b) many lower-class people work jobs that vanish during recessions, which results in them losing their homes.
All that being said, the real reason that all nation-states promote home ownership is because property taxes are the primary means to funding local governments. In order to maintain cities filled with tens of millions of people, you need billions of dollars of tax revenue. Sales taxes and local income taxes aren't enough. You have to tax the most important asset that humans own: their shelter. But shotgun shacks aren't valuable enough, so nation-states push people to buy more expensive homes, so cities can charge higher property taxes.
National housing policies over the last 40 years have been a quiet bailout of cities.