Brickbat: Get Those Kids Out of Here

|

Officials in San Luis Obispo, California, plan to buy houses in certain neighborhoods and sell them with deed restrictions requiring they be owner occupied. The goal is to keep college students from living in those neighborhoods. 

NEXT: Congress Passes $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill, President Promises to Sign

Charles Oliver is a contributing editor at Reason.

Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time. Report abuses.

  1. invisible furry hand

    "The difficulty that arises when you just have one group of people in a neighborhood is that it becomes like segregation," Marx said. "And the city's policy is that it's healthier for everyone if there's integration in neighborhoods."

    That doesn't sound like a quote from Das Kapital

    1. Suthenboy

      "And the city's policy is that it's healthier for everyone if there's integration in neighborhoods."

      Well, if the city officially declared it to be so, then it must be so.

      Why then is the city not declaring a plethora of other things to be so? So many vexing problems could be solved if they just had more resolve. Geez, they are really dropping the ball here.

    2. AlmightyJB

      "And the city's policy is that it's healthier for everyone if there's integration in neighborhoods."

      It sounds like this is the opposite of what they are doing.

    3. Integration by excluding people we don't like! Paging Mr. Orwell. Mr. Orwell, please go to any white courtesy Telescreen.

  2. Vapourwear

    Fucking deed restrictions.

    A couple of years ago we had to get one purged, "so long as no negroes occupy the property..." (Good old central PA...)

    The idea that the current owner of land can restrict future owners is probably one of the most screwed up concepts in law.

    1. DJF

      But at the same time it is contract law, if you don't want to buy it with that restriction then don't buy it.

      The question of whether government should be putting on deed restrictions is another quesiton, but individuals can. But the buyer should get at least a discount on price since the restrictions reduces the value of the property since you are not getting full use.

      The same thing can be said about minning, or water rights

      1. Adam330

        Well it's not contract law. It's property law. If a person in 1800 puts the deed restriction on, it continues in effect for every owner down the line to every owner, including owners long after the one that put the deed restriction in place is dead. And the current seller cannot take it off when he's selling.

  3. Lady Bertrum

    What kind of dummy buys a property with a deed restriction?

    1. Jgalt1975

      Someone who doesn't mind the deed restriction?

    2. Almanian!

      Nixon?

      /reset

    3. Adam330

      If you own property in US, you definitely have some type of deed restriction, even if you don't know it.

  4. Without this you would find neighborhoods filled with rapists and rape victims.

    1. Adans smith

      You mean CIA agents?

      1. No, Secret Service Agents.

      2. Almanian!

        Nixon?

        /reset

    2. AlmightyJB

      Wartopia?

  5. AlmightyJB

    But it's the happiest, and most friendly place in America.

    http://www.visitslo.com/

  6. martae

    That's a terrible way to squander tax payer money. Let the market decide where students live.

    1. Almanian!

      This mythical "market" you speak of - I would like to learn more about how it would operate, if it were allowed to exist.

      Perhaps you have a newsletter to which I might subscribe?

  7. AlmightyJB

    From the comments: has a pretty low bar for godwinning:)

    "Pretty soon, the council of slo will only allow white anglo saxon protestants who are card carrying Nazi's to own property in slo. Can we say discrimination. If you are a renter in slotown you can only live in those areas that council deems appropriate. What a bunch of elitest snobs. I would say racist, but clearly this is discrimination based upon the ability to own. How is this any different then the deep south. Oh that is the hometown of at least one of these nazzi leaders."

    1. WTF

      You know who else was a card carrying...uh, never mind.

      1. Walter Mondale?

      2. Almanian!

        Nixon?

      3. According to my progressive Facebook friends, whoever doesn't agree with them 100%.

  8. Fluffy

    The essence of property ownership is control.

    If you don't control the use of property, you don't own it.

    "Deed restrictions" of any kind on a piece of property should constitute affirmative proof that the property is still "owned" by whoever put the deed restriction in place - and that owner should bear any liabilities of ownership of that property, for tax, insurance and civil purposes.

    We have to wring out of our system all the elements of the "common law" that arise from deliberate medieval schemes to create bondage. The entire notion that you can "restrict" a deed in this way dates back to a time when conveying a piece of real property wasn't actually meant to create genuine ownership at all, but was meant to bind parties together in a web of medieval obligations. Properties restricted in this way aren't "owned" in the modern sense, the way you "own" a radio or a donut after you buy it; it's much more appropriate to consider them "leased".

  9. Discrimination: The worst sin ever when a private party does it; perfectly okay when government does it.

  10. NL_

    I like the idea that this won't cost money to SLO, even though they are purely stripping out all future rights to lease the property. What if future owners need to lease the house for a year or two based on some temporary need to move, or on an inability to find a buyer? The property is worth less because the owners can't rent it.

    The neighborhood may become more valuable if it's all families, but SLO is just assuming that these two effects will immediately counter balance despite the deed restriction being immediate and permanent but the neighborhood effects being delayed. It's also possible that neighborhoods in SLO won't get more valuable for whatever reason, so all they've done is remove a potential income stream from the property.

  11. ronaldbarrkem

    I buy almost everything except food and clothing from online auctions most people aren't aware of the almost I unbelievable deals that they can get from online auction sites the site that has the best deals is.....
    BEST HOME BASE GIFT-------- http://snipr.com/29inp5v

Please to post comments

Comments are closed.