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Graphic by Madalyn Godfrey

Both Democrats and Republicans claim to have solutions to the housing crisis—but neither is willing to confront the elephant in the room: our broken system of land ownership.

BY GAVIN MIDDLETON, OPINION SUBMISSION

Housing disparities will only worsen unless we stop taxing individuals and start taxing land. The Republican and Democratic parties rely on outdated ideas that homeownership is generally feasible or that nativism would solve supply constraints. These beliefs fail to address the root problems contributing to the property affordability gap: land speculation and monopolization.

Land value taxation (LVT) is a viable option to unlock housing affordability and economic fairness, which neither Donald Trump nor Kamala Harris fully comprehends.

Harris’ proposal to build 3 million homes neglects a critical issue: land speculation. 

While increasing housing supply can lower prices, the U.S. already has a 10.4% home vacancy rate, with 15.1 million vacant homes as land speculation investments—proof her plan ignores the real issue.

The tax credit premise has merit but land-related issues, such as high rent, loans and house costs, restrict young people from becoming homeowners. External factors, such as student loan debt, further complicate this problem. 

The issue with rent limitations is that they do not address the already high prices across the market. According to the U.S. Department of Treasury, since 2000, median rent has risen more than 20% and 30% of median income is required to pay the average rent. A complete approach targeting housing and rent is required. Not superficial or temporary measures. Democrats aren’t the only ones ignoring the land issue.

On the other side, Republicans are equally out of touch with the core issue; Trump has no real strategy to address the housing crisis. He believes he can increase purchases by lowering the interest rates and immigration control. Immigration is a time-tested scapegoat for Trump’s administration and fails to address the supply issue.

Opening up federal lands for development misses the crux of the problem: the concentrated ownership of valuable urban land and speculative practices that inflate prices. 

A Georgist solution, such as LVT, would directly tackle these issues by making land more available and ensuring its productive use.

Both candidates overlook that housing affordability is not just about supply and demand—it’s about land. In urban areas, land value is inflated by speculation and monopolization. 

In 1879, economist Henry George proposed the LVT, a progressive tax on the unimproved value of land, considering only its location, not any structures on it. LVT discourages land hoarding, promotes urban development and consolidates urban spaces. It’s an efficient tax that doesn’t penalize workers or investors but curbs rent-seeking and accumulating wealth without contributing to productivity or benefiting society.

But does it work?

LVT isn’t theoretical. With Georgism-inspired policies, Singapore and Taiwan optimized land use curbed speculation and boosted economic growth and affordable housing. In Singapore, nearly 80% of the population benefits from accessible public housing, reducing homelessness significantly. 

Beyond land reform, Georgism’s potential includes funding Universal Basic Income (UBI) through land taxes, which could reduce burdens on homebuyers, boost productivity and unlock millions of underutilized acres for a more affordable future.

It’s time our candidates stopped ignoring the root causes of the housing crisis. Instead of temporary fixes and political distractions, we need a bold solution that addresses land monopoly.

George offers a clear, actionable path forward. Write to your member of Congress: “If we want a genuinely affordable housing market, it’s time to tax land, not people.”

Fourth Estate/Sarena Marrisa Sohan

BY SARENA MARRISA SOHAN, STAFF WRITER

Editor’s Note: This interview was initially conducted on April 26, 2024, at Mason Day. Interview edited for length and clarity. 

The opener for Mason Day 2024 was Canadian band The Free Label. The band comprises musicians Josh Daniel, Malik Mungo, Jacob Thompson, Mathew Fantini, Cole Mendez and Jason Martin. The band’s ability to seamlessly blend genres and incorporate old school elements in their music contributes to their unique sound. Prior to the band’s vibrant performance at Mason Day, I met with them to learn more about their story. 

Why do you call yourselves The Free Label?

Fantini: The Free Label really came from when we started the band. We didn’t really want to contain ourselves in one genre. We really wanted to flow through all our influences and put all that into work that we did. And it slowly became that we just didn’t want to be contained by any label. We are completely independent but it really just came from not wanting to be labeled as any genre.

Currently you lean more towards disco and R&B. How did that come about?

Daniel: For the disco and R&B genre, what we did is for the past years we’ve been writing a lot of different styles of music…and we started to notice that a lot of our sound was going toward this disco area while keeping the styles of R&B… so we’re like, ‘let’s mash those two and see how it feels’ and it led to that.

What is your creative process like?

Martin: Our creative process is very different depending on what we’re doing. We all produce and do beatmaking. So someone will write and have an idea and make “the bones” of something and bring it into the band. Then we’ll all put our own little flavors and flairs onto it and work together to make it something special and something that means something to all of us. And then sometimes we sit down and we’re all in a room together and we write something completely brand new and just jam an idea.

“Real Love” has to be my favorite song from you. What is the story behind it?

Mendez: That was our first venture into the disco thing. 

Daniel: Yeah, that’s the first transition song that we were trying to test the waters with disco and R&B. It’s got a lot of R&B melodies on it while the chorus is like super disco. And we worked with our friend, Aaron Paris, who’s done some crazy stuff. He put live strings all over it and brought it all together. 

Mendez: We wanted to do a longer format thing where you hear the first chorus, and the middle section goes [to] a whole different chorus and that’s something that used to happen a lot more in the 70s and 80s. You don’t hear that form as much and so that was something we were trying to bring back. 

Daniel: I think the length of the song is a longer song traditionally from pop and we wanted that cause it’s more something to dance to. You can pop it onto a roller-skating rink and dance to it. That’s the vibe I feel like it gives.

What do you hope people gain from listening to your music? 

Mungo: Happiness, being inspired. Just a better sense of life and just love for music. 

Daniel: Someone just commented on our post saying ‘I was just listening to your song and it gave me hope.’ That’s what we’re trying to do, we’re trying to spread that good feeling energy. There’s a lot of sad things going on and we’re trying to take you outside of really thinking about anything and just feeling good, enjoying yourself.

Mungo: The energy never lies whenever we’re on stage. We’re always having fun and so when people can vibe off of that and they end up having fun, that’s more than we can ever ask for. 

What advice do you have for someone wanting to make music?

Fantini: The best advice is to start and don’t stop. I think that’s the only thing that you can do if you want to make and release music. You have to write the music, finish it and release it. And then, after you finish that song, you’ll realize that you can do much better and you write and release another song and you realize you can still get better than that. 

Mendez: We’re all guilty of starting things and not finishing them. I feel like you only actually complete the learning process by finishing something. There’s no rules to music. You know, I think you got to be really honest with yourself and develop your taste first. And get that by listening to a lot of different music and being critical about other people’s music and your own music.

Martin: I also think you got to be okay with being bad at something or making something bad. And you know, trying to learn from that process because none of us started out being amazing musicians. Like I sounded terrible when I first started playing the drums. You got to be okay with that and be able to work through that.

If you missed the performance on Mason Day, those interested in listening to their music should check out The Free Label on all streaming platforms.