We have a homelessness problem because we’ve started using houses as a place to store wealth like a giant battery, instead of as actual homes.
March 27, 2026
Original Paper
Material Dignity Infrastructure: Structural Misalignment and the Activation of Surplus Shelter Capacity
SSRN · 6211658
The Takeaway
The paper challenges the idea of a 'housing shortage' by showing that millions of square feet sit empty because scarcity is a rational requirement for housing to work as a financial instrument. It proposes treating a 'night's sleep' as a consumable utility—like water or electricity—to bypass the incentive to keep buildings empty.
From the abstract
The housing crisis persists not because the United States lacks buildings, materials, or technical capacity, but because the purpose of shelter has been structurally transformed. Housing has shifted from a basic human necessity to a financial instrument optimized for wealth storage, making scarcity a rational outcome and leaving millions of square feet in office towers, malls, hotels, and manufactured units idle. The disappearance of low-friction rooming options has created a gap that existing p