The government steals property all the time, it’s just called eminent domain. And to be fair, these aren’t Ma and Pa Kent who own these apartments - it’s almost all enormous companies worth multiple billions of dollars, keeping those $5k/year apartments at that price point because OCCASIONALLY someone will make enough to rent one. I think “hey either it needs to be rented out in some capacity within six months or we’re gonna take it and do it for you” is a good solution - sure, it’s Tammany Hall government all over again, but since that seems to be the only thing that corporations respond to now, it’s a good solution.
Complex problem, but your right abou not beingt the ma and pa owners I can’t math today, but if a tax write off is going to be the more profitable option, you’ve got a LOT of other high tax high earning income coming in.
Forcing people to lose money to restore a lame asset or they steal your property… Yeah that won’t fly.
That’s the fun part. It’s not ‘stealing’ when the state does it.
Uh, I hate to break it to you, but this is exactly what’s happening in places to get land for data centers.
https://fortune.com/2026/07/19/data-center-eminent-domain-public-use/
The government steals property all the time, it’s just called eminent domain. And to be fair, these aren’t Ma and Pa Kent who own these apartments - it’s almost all enormous companies worth multiple billions of dollars, keeping those $5k/year apartments at that price point because OCCASIONALLY someone will make enough to rent one. I think “hey either it needs to be rented out in some capacity within six months or we’re gonna take it and do it for you” is a good solution - sure, it’s Tammany Hall government all over again, but since that seems to be the only thing that corporations respond to now, it’s a good solution.
Complex problem, but your right abou not beingt the ma and pa owners I can’t math today, but if a tax write off is going to be the more profitable option, you’ve got a LOT of other high tax high earning income coming in.
When you say “won’t”…