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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!harpo!decvax!mcnc!duke!ucf-cs!giles
From: giles@ucf-cs.UUCP (Bruce Giles)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: Rent control, etc (followup).
Message-ID: <1266@ucf-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 19-May-84 09:32:11 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucf-cs.1266
Posted: Sat May 19 09:32:11 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 22-May-84 08:24:53 EDT
References: <142@loral.UUCP>
Organization: University of Central Florida
Lines: 31

For those who do not believe in the right to shelter:

Imagine you are at 12,000 feet in a blizzard.  Your spouse and kids are
starting to turn blueish-white.  You are completely lost.  And you stumble
across an unoccupied house.  Do you break into the house?

Of course, any sane person will break into the house, and any sane jury
will find it innocent of any crime.


Apartments exist for one purpose: to provide shelter.  And shelter is one
of the fundamental requirements of life. 

If a landlord does not diminish the `sheltering' ability of an apartment
(e.g., refuse to fix broken heaters, patch leaking roofs) he is entitled 
to do whatever he wishes concerning the rent, etc.

But he is definitely *not* entitled to continue collecting rent for
apartments which do not provide the basic service of shelter.

And as to the absolute rights of property owners:  Prove it by constructing
a munitions plant near an elementary school!  A toxic waste dump near a
city park! The property owners' rights stop where the public becomes 
endangered.


ave discordia				going bump in the night ...
bruce giles

decvax!ucf-cs!giles			university of central florida
giles.ucf-cs@Rand-Relay			orlando, florida 32816