Leasing, Not Owning

In the NewVistas model, stewards lease apartments, business space, and equipment from the community, which owns all assets.

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Apartments, owned by agency 8, but managed by agency 2 through contractors, are leased to participants. As a participant enters the community as a steward, they sign lease agreements for living and commercial space, as well as a business plan. Based on these agreements, different agencies, including agency 2, avail the assets required by the steward. The agencies that lease out these assets work through contractors and do not have custody of the assets at any time.

While lease agreements are open-ended, rent is paid weekly. Stewards do not need to pay any deposit on their apartments; instead, they only pay for the week they intend to live there. The rent is automatically deducted from their checking accounts by the agency. When a steward intends to move, they can easily do so by leaving at the end of the week for which they have paid rent.

Problems of Home Ownership

Part of the so-called American dream has been for each family to own their own home.

Unfortunately, home ownership can easily turn into a nightmare for many families. Circumstances may force a family to purchase a house that requires a long commute or that doesn’t meet their changing needs.

Poor financial planning, unemployment, or ill health can leave families burdened with debt and locked into houses they can’t afford and could lose. Home maintenance involves a variety of tasks and expenses that families may be ill-equipped to handle.

Further, changing life conditions mean that a home that matches a family now may not fit as well ten or twenty years down the road.

Over time, neighborhoods deteriorate, leaving the houses less desirable as places to live. Depressed housing markets may make it impossible to sell a home when a change is needed or desired.

Home ownership can make it hard to quickly take advantage of economic opportunities, because owning a home ties people to their existing location, requiring them to find a buyer before they can move to where the best possibilities are available.

Private home ownership can cause problems for communities as well.

People have different ideas about how their houses should be built, which gets in the way of efficiency and consistency. Competition for status leads to houses and lots that are larger and more elaborate than they need to be, which isn’t sustainable on a large scale.

Individual owners are motivated to make choices that may benefit them but aren’t in the best interests of the neighborhood.

At the same time, homeowners need to worry not just about their own actions but those of their neighbors that may impact the value of their own home, thus fostering conditions that can lead to conflict.

Families that dislike where they live or don’t get along with their neighbors typically find it harder to relocate if they own their homes, adding to community friction and disengagement.

At the end of it all, a family may have spent a fortune on a large house, only to have the children move out as they mature, leaving the parents, as empty nesters, with a big house that is expensive to maintain and grossly underutilized.

The NewVistas Solution

The NewVistas model avoids the problems of private home ownership through a two-part solution involving community ownership and affordable short-term leasing.

All the buildings are owned and managed by the community, with title being held by agency 8. This aspect eliminates motivations for price gouging and poor maintenance.

In today’s economy, many people feel that a house is the best investment they can make.

However, NewVistas participants deposit their net worth in the community, rather than owning personal or business assets. They earn an attractive return on these deposits, while leasing everything they need.

Secondly, short-term leases without up-front deposits mean that residents can move whenever their circumstances change or even if they simply decide they want new neighbors.

Because everyone is a vetted member of the community, there is no need for security deposits, making it even easier to move whenever a change is needed or wanted.

Other lease arrangements

Besides housing, business space, equipment, and any other facility used by participants is leased from specific community agencies, rather than being owned. This means that besides a few personal effects, everything else is leased from the community. this works to boost the community’s revenues, while providing participants with the highest quality of equipment, space, and facilities possible at a small fee.

1. See “Revelation, 9 February 1831 [D&C 42:1–72],” p. [3], The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed February 4, 2017, http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-9-february-1831-dc-421-72/3?highlight=behold.[↩]