Valkyria passes bill to nationalise housing by 2030
Government presses forward despite international concerns
Tove Jakobsdóttir (she/her), Chief politics writer
Friday, 24 March 2023
Ravneby — In a bid to end homelessness and fight a cost of living crisis, the Valkyrian government voted Friday to pass the Housing Act 2023, a bill that will make permanent the eviction moratorium imposed at the start of the GID-20 pandemic and effectively ban rental housing by 2030. By then, the Valkyrian government will be expected to provide shelter for the nearly 73 million people projected to be living in Valkyria in 2030.
Being the government’s first major law on housing since the Shelter Act 2017, a Margaret Harrison-era boost in public housing funding, the bill’s passage represents Prime Minister Steve Bennett’s first major legislative act since taking control of the executive branch in July 2022 and a rebuke to liberals, conservatives, and international critics who see the legislation as a threat to capitalism and liberty in Valkyria.
Like many other countries in Pacifica, Valkyria is confronting an increasingly challenging cost of living crisis that has worsened homelessness, income inequality, and mental health. The crisis was the second-most important issue to Valkyrians when they voted in June 2022, second only to the Kalkara War. In a mid-March poll conducted by the VKS, 56 per cent of Valkyrians said they supported the government’s plan to expropriate housing.
In a speech on the floor of the Storting, Bennett praised the bill’s passage, calling it a “revolutionary” solution to homelessness and the cost of living crisis. The prime minister also took aim at other world leaders who criticised the Housing Act, stating that “Pacifica needs leaders who are willing to do what’s necessary to protect the working class, and that is what we did here in Valkyria with this bill”.
Centrist Democratic leader Bradley Murphy took on the role as the leading Coalition speaker against the Housing Act, calling it the “beginning of the end of free enterprise” in Valkyria and a “tragic development” for the Central Cordilian nation. Murphy further expressed fear that foreign investors may withdraw from Valkyria, stymieing development and Valkyrian economic power.
In the years leading up to 2030, the Valkyrian government will steadily acquire any private land used for rental housing until it gains total ownership by the 2030 deadline. From this point forward, anyone without a home will be provided one at no cost other than a tax hypothecated for upkeep.
Despite the nationalisation, not all housing will be expropriated, particularly any home that is owned but not rented out. Homeowners will retain ownership of their property, and the national government will establish a means for any state-owned home to be bought by any person for the purpose of permanent residence. However, no landowner in Valkyria will be allowed to rent out a home to another.
In other news…
- Vote expected on Kalkara War reparations
- Sigrblót 2023: Sacrifices and grand feasts are coming
- Opinion: Valkyria is becoming a modern socialist experiment
