Some time ago in thought '002 A few good men' I told you about my absolute hatred of current housing policy and inheritance tax. I wanted to discuss my plan to improve housing but I ended up ranting about inheritance tax instead. So as promised today I will present a plan that can stimulate a decrease in housing cost and improving affordability, all achievable by a small group of people.

The central problem in this small west-European country is the major discrepancy between the in group and out group regarding housing. The ones that have social housing or bought a home some time ago do not suffer any pain from the increasing housing cost, they in fact benefit. While the once who have to enter the market for the first time suffer greatly. Unfortunately this issue is unsolvable within a well functioning democracy. Any economist will tell you subsidizing home ownership in this environment is stupid, but when >60% of your electorate owns a home and directly benefit of increasing home prices, no political party will have the power to change it. For the last 5 yeas average home value increases more then a full-time worker earns after tax in that same period. Owning a home is fiscally akin to having a slave working for you full-time, giving you every cent he earns. Changing demographics over time wont fix this, as I have seen the transition first hand. I had a coworker who continuously ranted about the high prices to then makes a complete 180 the moment he bought a house. He know hopes the prices continue to increase, and actively apposes more housing in his village. So if the solution can't come from democracy it has to come from somewhere else.

Stage one: Imagine if on the first of the month some houses bought in the last 30 days would be vandalized? Nothing extreme but something that has a financial cost, such as broken windows, graffiti, or bedbugs making their way into the carpet. At the same time a site is put up that states that any house that is bought/sold on the first of the month will be targeted. At first no one will really notice. But it does not take a long time before news catches on and articles will be written. People will after the 2nd or 3th month just avoid the first day of the month and do the transaction any other day.

Stage two: When the amount of transaction decreases on that day, and with increased publicity, the duration will get longer, from 1 day to 2 to a week. You can't easily avoid a whole week, so transaction will occur with a inferred price of possible vandalism. It does not have to be much, but if someone really wants to sell it this week, he will need to give a 1-2% discount as they might get a broken window in the middle of the night, or they might have to get a mechanic to fix a solar panel that someone threw a brick at. This will cause a measurably decrease in prices across the country.

Stage three: At this point others will join naturally, enough people want to find a way to justify violence or are enraged by lack of housing jealous of the ones that can buy a house. Someone will take it to far, setting fire to the garage or throw a brick without knowing a child was behind that glass. News stories will show videos of the victims of the violence and the fear they felt, making people even more worried about buying a house in that first week of the month. They will brand it something like 'Housing terrorism'. The housing market is mostly about vibes, anticipation of decreasing prices, prices decrease even further. It won't be much but I expect at least 5% decrease in home prices can be achieved in a year. And with the subsequent years a larger decrease as people adjust to possibility of downward prices and increasing volatility. The major cost will be incurred by current home owners, as the purchasing party can leverage the decreasing costs and safety concern more so than the selling party. It will not solve everything, but it will move the price in the right direction.

You will need a small initial team of 4 or so good men, that take turns attacking a house in their province. You wont need to share any personal information or even coordinate anything other than who's turn it. If you are dedicated enough one person can achieve all of it. Traveling each week to a new province, vandalizing and leaving. All data you need about transactions is public. Police can't monitor all houses sold this month throughout the country for 30 days. Even if they do catch someone, the actions are quite minor. Vandalism is not something you will get much trouble for. If the movement escalates such that actions are deemed as 'terrorism', then there will be enough others naturally joining. The first once set the precedent and face little danger if it goes wrong, while the later once face higher danger if caught and prosecuted but will follow earlier actions thus making it feel less dangerous.

I do not advocate any of this though, but I would not demonize anyone willing to take these actions. I can't wait to turn in a NIMBY the moment I buy a house, so that I can commit the actual housing terrorism of limiting supply of a core life necessity to entrench my wealth and privilege at the expense of the out-group minority and future generations all with the governments backing. When that day comes, you can live in my spare bedroom rent free. Till then my head has to suffice :) Goodnight Somi.