I don’t know who’s worse. The new communist governor of California or Comrade Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City. It’s no secret that Comrade Bill de Blasio is running for POTUS in 2020. I’d be shocked if he wasn’t. But seizing private property? That will get him a lot of votes in the Democrat primary, that’s for sure.
| Comrade De Blasio to seize private property |
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So what will the Office to Protect Tenants do? De Blasio didn’t really explain, though his executive order says it will serve as a “central resource for tenants, social service agencies, advocacy organizations, legal services providers, landlords and management companies of affordable housing, and others on tenant issues,” including “tenant harassment.”
According to his office’s website, De Blasio is “pursuing new local law to seize upwards of 40 of the most distressed multiple dwelling buildings annually and transition them to responsible, mission driven ownership.” Passage of this legislation would presumably give the Office to Protect Tenants the authority to seize land.
This is really nothing new for de Blasio, who basically told New York magazine in 2016 that he does not believe in the right to private property. “I think people all over this city, of every background, would like to have the city government be able to determine which building goes where, how high it will be, who gets to live in it, what the rent will be,” he said. “Look, if I had my druthers, the city government would determine every single plot of land, how development would proceed. And there would be very stringent requirements around income levels and rents.”
There are a host of problems with this mindset, as Reason’s Scott Shackford detailed at the time. But it all boils down to this: Politicians like de Blasio want to control what other people do with and on their own property. If landowners don’t listen, then there’s a simple solution: Seize their land.
This sort of thinking doesn’t work out in real life. Look no further than an existing New York City program meant to provide affordable housing. The Third Party Transfer (TPT) Program supposedly lets nonprofit groups buy “distressed vacant and occupied multi-family properties,” then rent them out to people in need of a relatively cheap place to live. But longtime property owners have complained that the city has seized their homes over unpaid city debts.