I am so very tired of individuals OTHERING renters as if they have never rented an apartment or a house in their life.

You are not somehow "reborn" as a superior being when you acquire a mortgage. Signing a bunch of papers without reading them first does not make you a better person. Thinking less about someone who rents their home probably makes you a worse person, when you think about it. Identifying someone as “The Other” is a way to dehumanize them just enough to feel superior to them for no good reason. Humans do this kind of thing a lot. They Other (the verb) folks on the basis of their race, gender, nationality, economic status, educational achievement, and whether they rent their home instead of owning their home with the bank.

Have you ever been at a public meeting and heard people you would ordinarily like and respect use the term “Renters” in such a condescending and dismissive way that you start to wonder what mayhem they must have committed when they rented an apartment or a house? Talking shit about people who rent their home (roughly 35% of US households) is pretty common in cringe-worthy comments posted to articles about building, development, workforce housing, etc. It is not hard to find reinforcement for that attitude, but it just ain’t right.

This kind of ignorance and Othering prevents people from forming healthy relationships with their neighbors and building social capital in their neighborhood. It makes the place they live worse…..The house you bought can only do so much to make you happy or help you cope with modern life. At some point you will benefit from getting to know your neighbors.