Today is Veterans Day, and rightly so, people are celebrating those who have dedicated their lives to defending our country. There are thank-yous and recognitions. People note that veteran homelessness has been meaningfully reduced in Minnesota. These are all good things.
But sometimes the harm to veterans comes when you least expect it.
A bunch of years ago there was a story about a military family that lived in one of the smaller communities in Minnesota, on a street adjacent to one of the big state colleges. The family was called up to duty. As anyone in the military knows, when the call comes you don’t get to negotiate. You go.
At the same time, the local municipality had passed a rule limiting rental permits on that street. Residents felt too many homes were being rented to students and that it was creating an undesirable environment. The rule left the military family in a bind. They couldn’t rent the house to cover the mortgage while they were away. And because the property no longer carried the potential of rental income for a future buyer, its value dropped.
The city was working within the frame of its own local concerns. Meanwhile the family was operating under the obligations of the federal government. When those two systems collided, the family got squeezed.
The larger point is simpler: we should limit the rules that constrain people’s freedom to trade what is, for most of us, our single most valuable asset—our home.
