{"product_id":"why-the-rent-is-too-paul-beard-9798234035691","title":"Why the Rent is Too Damn High: An inquiry into land value and the common wealth","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe rent is too damn high. Here's why - and it's not who you think.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eEveryone knows housing is unaffordable. The usual suspects get the usual blame: greedy landlords, bureaucratic zoning, not enough building. But the real answer is under your feet. Land - who owns it, who benefits from its value, and who pays for that value - is the question American cities have been refusing to ask for a century.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhy the Rent Is Too Damn High\u003c\/em\u003e is a data-driven argument about Seattle, but its logic applies to every city where wealth concentrates while workers get priced out. Drawing on Henry George's radical and remarkably modern insight that land value is created by everyone who lives and works in a community - not by the name on the tax bill - author Paul Beard builds the case from the ground up, with public records, parcel-level data, and 115 acres of downtown surface parking lots as receipts.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis book explains: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhy a vacant lot or a boarded-up building is the real crime - not the person sleeping in the doorway\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHow wealthy cities manufacture poverty through the way they tax land\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhy the twin \"emergencies\" of homelessness and housing unaffordability have the same root cause and the same solution\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHow Monopoly - originally invented to expose the real-life game most people didn't know they were playing - still explains more about urban economics than most policy papers\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSeattle has a collecting problem, not a spending problem. So does your city. Once you see it, you can't unsee it - and it will make you angry every time you drive past an empty lot.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eYou have been warned.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Paul Beard\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798234035691\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Otherwise Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/12\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 394\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.16lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.81d","brand":"Paul Beard","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48659891257599,"sku":"9798234035691","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/why-the-rent-is-too-paul-beard-9798234035691","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}