Jonáš Klos

30 years oldPrahanezávislý kandidát

Running for Libertariánská strana Voluntia

Main topics

cancel NIMBY

Absolutely every party is trying to solve housing in Prague. The funny thing is that in their programmes for City Hall the same parties talk about the need to build flats, while their branches in the city districts want to block construction. This is the typical NIMBY effect – we need to build, just not near me. The problem is that someone already lives near everywhere. This has to end, no matter what. People who already own flats shouldn't have any stronger a voice than potential new buyers and tenants, for whom the low supply makes flats significantly more expensive. Life in Prague is good, and that's why more and more people will keep wanting to live here. No regulations or bans will change that. Only sufficient construction that meets demand will stop flats from being an investment asset, because their price will no longer rise sharply.

cancel building regulations

But NIMBY isn't the only factor that makes housing disproportionately expensive. There are also various regulations that are responsible for it being practically impossible to build new, cheaper housing. Given the limited space, I'll pick one that would be the easiest to abolish, and that's parking minimums. Parking minimums dictate that a certain number of new parking spaces must be provided for every flat in a new building. On average, this regulation makes each flat 1 million crowns more expensive! People who don't want to clog the city's streets with their car are out of luck – if they want to buy a flat in Prague, they have to pay for that million-crown space in the price of the flat too. In some vacant lots it's not possible to build a building at all because of this, simply because there's nowhere to put the mandated new parking.

cancel parking communism

We live in a society (I couldn't help myself) where public space exists. Its biggest advantage is its biggest problem – it's for everyone. Different social groups then feel that their particular way of using public space is better than the way others would like to use it. In Prague this is best illustrated by parking, where car owners take up a huge amount of public space at the expense of others for a completely ridiculous amount that doesn't reflect its real price at all. So, for a start, it would be good to set parking prices dynamically, so that they rise where there is enormous demand for parking and fall where there is plenty of free space. This system will reflect demand better than a single fixed price and will help free up the streets.

A few words about me

Politics is thoroughly permeated with authoritarianism. Whichever party you choose, almost every one wants to ban something for you, restrict someone, punish someone else – even though there is no victim. This thinking only mirrors demand in society, and I'm not just talking about supporters of extremist views, but also about people who usually describe themselves as liberal or tolerant. Try thinking for yourselves about how often, not only in politics but also in everyday life, you call for or directly reach for authoritarian solutions, even when they are not the only possible ones. Especially when you feel it doesn't concern you and it should simply be banned for those others (whether they are children, entrepreneurs, immigrants or, say, homeless people). Often it's the easiest thing, but is it really right? I'm sure it isn't. Bans and restrictions never solve anything; they only cover problems up or move them elsewhere. People won't stop moving to Prague en masse if you put a stop to building flats in your neighbourhood. Tourists won't stop coming to Prague and staying in the centre if you restrict AirBnB. Quality of life in the city won't improve if we believe politicians who tell us that they, of all people, are finally the ones who will this time decide and order things best from above. I reject this approach; and, as the only one in Czech politics, so does the Libertariánská strana Voluntia. I don't expect to be elected – but for me, running is a way to stand up for under-represented ideas that I believe in, and to support other people who believe in them too.

The candidate's texts have been machine-translated from Czech.