HOMEOWNERS OF THE WORLD, RELAX.

• Author: Farsad, Negin
• Position: HEMMING AND HAWING

Owning a home can change you. There are changes that you might expect--like, suddenly, you care about grand molding and the subtle differences in paint color between "Pure White" and "White Dove."

And all those coasters you never used in your rental? You use them now. You get stressed out when someone comes over and asks for a drink because you have to track that drink until it makes it onto a coaster! Home ownership definitely strengthens your appreciation of condensation from a drinking glass.

The American ethos is steeped in the idea of home ownership as a milestone for success--as in, if you own a home, you're doing something right in life. We have built decades of policy around this ideal, never mind the stream of real estate-themed TV shows: Flipping Out, Property Brothers, Million Dollar Listing, Selling Sunset, House Hunters. These shows sell a certain homeowner ship fantasy and keep us thirsting for property.

There are obvious benefits to home ownership, including the mortgage tax break and having an actual place to live. Research shows that homeowners have a heightened level of political par ticipation in local elections be cause they have more long-term financial stakes in their neighbor hoods. That's a good thing.

But the bad thing about home ownership is that it creates an en tirely myopic fear of the unknown. It chips away at your basic sense of openness and civic good.

All those people who are opposing the building of a homeless shelter in the neighborhood? Yeah, those are homeowners. Whether it's the Upper West Side of Manhattan or your garden variety well-to-do neighborhood anywhere in America, homeowners don't want homeless shelters. Or more affordable housing. Or COVID-19 testing sites. And they will be extremely vocal about it.

These same people know that a functioning city needs all of these things. It can't all be beautifully manicured parks, quaint cafes, and ceramics shops. In fact, the nation's need for affordable housing and homeless shelters is dire. And that housing has to go somewhere.

But when it comes to somewhere, homeowners want it to be in some other neighborhood that they don't care about. They are so...