https://hbr.org/2020/07/what-should-we-do-with-45000-half-empty-public-buildings
I'm neck-deep in research for a school assignment. The course? Scientific and Technical Writing. The final project? A formal Recommendation Report. My chosen topic? Telecommuting. There's a lot to say, and strange as it may sound, here's one idea that didn't occur to me until I stumbled across this article, written by Sheila Botting, the Americas President of Professional Services at Canadian commercial real estate firm Avison Young.
Botting writes that many Canadian governments have cut loose the buildings no longer in use during the pandemic, choosing instead to sell them to the private sector for affordable housing purposes to help with government budget deficits. She proposes that American governments could easily benefit from following in these footsteps. And while the passing of property from public hands to private ones seems (to me) to be a step in the wrong direction, based in desperation and entrenched in late-stage corporate capitalism and corruption, the initiative to turn underutilized properties and facilities into much-needed resources for housing the homeless and the underpaid 99% is the trend we need to emphasize.
Think about it. All those sprawling shopping malls, movie theaters, corporate offices, and other non-residential buildings, now sitting empty and abandoned? Most of them already equipped with climate control, plumbing, high-speed internet, and varying levels of division into sub-units? How easily could those be turned into residential units for families and households in need?
Determining the potential value of these properties is one of many steps needed for the distribution of this particular resource- land/real estate/property/living space. This is going to be one of the muddiest and most hotly-contested topics, folks, as it likely skirts very close to actual scarcity... Moreso than almost any other resource out there. More development to come on that later.
