Peter Kropotkin, what are your thoughts on homelessness?
I believe homelessness Is Not a Natural Condition — It is a Manufactured Injustice. Poverty and deprivation are not accidents, nor the result of individual failure. They are the forced outcome of an economic system that treats land, shelter, and survival as commodities.
• A society that allows empty homes while people sleep outside is morally broken. No one is homeless because they “failed.” People are homeless because housing is withheld unless profit can be made. Modern society produces enough for everyone; scarcity is artificially imposed by property laws.
Land and housing should never be private property. Housing should not belong to landlords who collect rent without labor. Land should not be owned by speculators. Homes should not sit empty while people freeze outside. The right to shelter is as fundamental as the right to food. Let’s legalize squatting. Instead of tents crowding our sidewalks and parks, the un-housed people can and should be housed in vacant buildings.
Homelessness exists because housing is produced for profit, not need
Modern housing is built for investment, speculation, asset appreciation —not for people who need a place to live. Societies that produces homes as financial instruments will always produce homelessness.
Homelessness is a political strategy of capitalism. Homelessness isn’t just an unfortunate side-effect of capitalism—it’s a tool of social control. Homelessness keeps workers desperate, it suppresses wages, it disciplines the poor, it reinforces obedience through fear, it maintains a reserve army of the unemployed. The existence of homelessness benefits the ruling class and is therefore maintained on purpose.
Charity is not enough — only structural change solves the problem
I am deeply critical of charity, and homeless shelters. I see them as condescending, inconsistent, a band-aid for problems created by inequality, and a way for the wealthy to avoid sharing real power. I believe the only acceptable remedy to homelessness is the abolition of the system that produces it.
My Solution: abolish private property in housing and guarantee the right to shelter. I believe housing should be freely accessible to all. No one should pay rent. Empty homes should be taken over by the people. The community—not landlords—should manage housing as a shared resource. Housing is a social necessity, not a commodity.
I support community control of land, cooperative building, the right of homeless people to occupy vacant units, collective stewardship of housing resources, permanent, unconditional housing for all
This is consistent with my broad principle: “To each according to their needs.”