Part of the decline in economic velocity over time, can be attributed to difficulties in making the most of property ownership, especially for properties which are mutually owned by family members. Even though housing has mostly become associated with consumption in the present, some still rely on mutually owned personal (family) property as primary production means for goods or services.
However, it can be especially difficult for lower income levels, to successfully work out disputes regarding the use and/or control of mutually owned personal property. Due to the inflexibility of legal ownership guidelines, family owned resource capacity can end up utilized at a fraction of its true potential. Too many people have lost everything - time and again - for no better reason than family members could not, or would not, agree among themselves regarding common usage for mutually owned property.
In recent years I've suggested a flexible institutional structure for property use, which could make more dynamic forms of property ownership possible - especially for physical assets as utilized by individuals. Property ownership of participants within an equilibrium corporate structure, would function like the pieces of a dynamic jigsaw puzzle, which allows property holdings to adjust for group and individual work/life patterns, as they change and evolve. The ownership process begins with each participant's basic level of property acquisition, which corresponds with entry into time arbitrage via peer to peer educational assistance.
These base property holdings would function as a form of group insurance, via replacement base building components in the event of natural disasters and the like. Basic levels of services access in the course of one's lifetime, would coexist alongside this (time value backed) property insurance pool.* While specific locations are sometimes important in their own right, often the specific geographic location is a second consideration. This way, each group is able to retain its ability to shift holdings for life and work patterns so that families and individuals who have shared time based obligations, can remain in reasonable walking and/or commuting distance from one another.
Often, ownership is not so much about a specific building component or property, but one's ability to utilize buildings and property so that their personal efforts and risks in relation to others, aren't unduly compromised. If specific properties in this setting function as dynamic jigsaw puzzle pieces, one might imagine building components in this context, as similar to Lego pieces. While many properties would closely correspond to changing life/work settings, other more permanent property designations would provide ample room as well, for the personal expressions which personal ownership can beautifully impart to the landscape.
Dynamic property ownership would reduce the legal problems which arise when physical property ownership is subject to the inevitable risks of life. While divorce is among the greatest risk for lower income levels, these groups are at greater risk from the vicissitudes of nature as well - particularly floods. With more viable options for individual ownership, it would become a simpler matter for many individuals with small incomes, to remain economically engaged for the full duration of a lifetime.
*Additional ownership beyond the base insurance levels agreed upon by individual communities, would function as more normal aspects of property ownership.
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