Rent is Theft

“Rent is theft.” Agree or don’t agree? I guess it depends on your position: landlord or mortgage owner or renter. Either way, banks, developers, government, contractors, etc make a lot of money in the real estate industry. But who foots the bill and at what expense? (Thinking: people, place, environment). A small square of dirt in this area goes for $699,000 thanks to the rich developer who purchased it with the goal to profit off the urban sprawl of single family homes that encroach into our forest.

There are problems with this. First, the commodification of land. Is land really something that should be bought and sold? Who gave permission to that developer to buy that land? The Crown? Which brings us to the rightful caretakers, the Squamish Nation. According to Indigenous tradition, if someone is responsible for a piece of land and doesn’t take care of it, then this land goes to someone who can. These developers do not take care of the land and nor will the high consumer lifestyles that neighbourhoods like this lead to (thinking of the social and ecological impact that our stuff has on local & distant places). Since the idea of land ownership originates with the crown — who is not taking care of it — well then: #landback.

Second thought: single family living and the division of people. The colonial system forced Indigenous people from communal living into single family homes. Before this, people took care of each other and their community. If someone needed help, they were helped. They didn’t need to jump through bureaucratic hoops. Among the richest Nations in the world today, people are more separated, lonely, suicides are rocketing as is depression. The temporary ‘high’ of material wealth replaces that deep connection to community and place and that unsustainable capitalist cycle continues at the expense of our well being and the planet.

Long story short — If we want to heal our planet, we need to heal our societies and that starts with acknowledging that the colonial system is broken and needs replacing. And that includes our one track housing model and how our communities are designed. There are other ways to live and exist on this fragile planet.