>>>Why can't they use those thousands of newbuild properties that aren't selling that we read about.
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>>What are you, some sort of a commie?
>
>Slightly left leaning.
>
>But actually if local authorities could buy up empty speculative build housing at a knock down price to provide housing for the homeless or low income families that could only be a good thing. In the long run those prices will recover and the local authority would have a nice valuable asset.

But that would mean that a government at some level would actually own something, and would create an entitlement. Worse, someone who isn't rich would get something from the tax money, which is, then, socialism - we can't have that, that's bad for the people.

The goal is to have minimal government which would do nothing but serve as a reserve fund for bailouts. For everything else, if you need something, the market will guarantee that you get it at a fair price. It will provide the most profitable definition of "fair" as well. By way of amazing coincidence, the communism project also assumed that the government would die off by virtue of becoming unnecessary, because the people would become capable of governing themselves.