Have you ever been dependent on someone for your survival? More than likely, as a child, you were entirely dependent on your parents. The most successful parents make enormous attempts and efforts to raise their children to be independent. They teach them all the skills to function as an adult. How many times have you heard: "My Suzie and Johnnie are now out on their own and doing well, no more kid bills!"  Often, the most controlling parents or partners are the ones who purposefully create a dynamic of dependence. Many tech entities and drug dealers make dependency a core focus.

All politics aside, if we are so focused on educating and encouraging our kids to be independent, why is it that we build so many things and systems that fuel the exact opposite, dependence? New York City spends over $3 billion annually on local rental assistance and leverages an additional $7.2 billion from the federal government for housing and homelessness support. Imagine if that $10 billion was spent on helping people build real independence via ownership instead? A renter for life is dependent on landlords. Government-assisted renters are dependent on the government imposing laws on that landlord or they are dependent on government-owned housing, often the worst-built and most poorly maintained of all housing. What if that government runs out of funding, or changes, along with new policies? 

Are the most effective charities the ones that provide assistance to help people become self-sufficient, or those that create dependency that is often unreliable? Politics aside, wouldn't the most practical solution be to educate people towards owning their home, building equity, maintaining their home.....and becoming independent (or less dependent) on the government and/or landlords? If the two greatest issues of our time right now are affordability and extreme wealth disparity, both mostly driven by the contrast between owners and earners, with housing at the center, is it time we re-evaluate our housing solutions that are more focused on the long term? Band aids wither: stitches heal.