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>Prop I is a moratorium on building new market-rate housing Are these people completely insane? Shouldn't there be propositions for denser zoning, land reclama

>Prop I is a moratorium on building new market-rate housing Are these people completely insane? Shouldn't there be propositions for denser zoning, land reclamation, or other measures that would increase the SF housing stock? Houston has famously lax zoning laws, and as a consequence has seen much greater population growth (31% vs 18% from 1980-2010 per wikipedia) yet experienced none of these same problems.

MCRed 11y ago
They're actually operating in a way that is very profitable to them. If you own property- a house or business real estate- you want a moratorium on new supply. Because not giving new supply will cause the value of your current property to go up. Of course its an "anti-affordable housing" position... but it's not insane. The anti-development types are taking a very profitable position for themselves.
bsder 11y ago
Actually, it would seem that San Francisco's (population density 18,187/sq mi (7,022/km2)) zoning laws worked much better than Houston's lack thereof (population density (3,662/sq mi (1,414/km2)). However, the real problem is that San Francisco is water locked on three sides and boundary locked on the fourth. It has no way of adding housing that doesn't offend some entrenched interest.
Wingman4l7 11y ago
Lax zoning laws has created its own set of problems for Houston -- infamously horrible sprawl, for one.
- ska 11y ago
  Not sure why you are getting downvoted. Houston's lack of zoning laws (there are HOAs, mind) has certainly created its own set of problems. A friend of mine once described it as less of a city and more of a vast collection of suburbs connected by strip malls - and that isn't entirely unfair. Whether you view it as "horrible sprawl" or "affordable housing" sort of depends on where you sit, I guess.
- eru 11y ago
  See http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2011/11/30/the_myth_of_zoning_free_houston.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2011/11/30/the_myth_of_z...
- chao- 11y ago
  The lack of zoning in Houston has its upsides and downsides, but it has comparatively little to do with the sprawl. The sprawl is mostly a result of the manner by which Houston chose to grow: by annexing neighboring municipalities that were growing quickest to gobble up their tax dollars. And even for all that famous sprawl, Houston is seeing the same sort of urban in-fill that every other major US metro area is seeing... it just has a lot more land to fill before it achieves similar density.
Bjartr 11y ago
>Shouldn't there be propositions for denser zoning, land reclamation, or other measures that would increase the SF housing stock? What, and hurt profit margins?
- eru 11y ago
  If you can build up, you can rent out to more people..

MCRed 11y ago

They're actually operating in a way that is very profitable to them. If you own property- a house or business real estate- you want a moratorium on new supply. Because not giving new supply will cause the value of your current property to go up. Of course its an "anti-affordable housing" position... but it's not insane. The anti-development types are taking a very profitable position for themselves.

bsder 11y ago

Actually, it would seem that San Francisco's (population density 18,187/sq mi (7,022/km2)) zoning laws worked much better than Houston's lack thereof (population density (3,662/sq mi (1,414/km2)). However, the real problem is that San Francisco is water locked on three sides and boundary locked on the fourth. It has no way of adding housing that doesn't offend some entrenched interest.

Wingman4l7 11y ago

Lax zoning laws has created its own set of problems for Houston -- infamously horrible sprawl, for one.

ska 11y ago
Not sure why you are getting downvoted. Houston's lack of zoning laws (there are HOAs, mind) has certainly created its own set of problems. A friend of mine once described it as less of a city and more of a vast collection of suburbs connected by strip malls - and that isn't entirely unfair. Whether you view it as "horrible sprawl" or "affordable housing" sort of depends on where you sit, I guess.
eru 11y ago
See http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2011/11/30/the_myth_of_zoning_free_houston.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2011/11/30/the_myth_of_z...
chao- 11y ago
The lack of zoning in Houston has its upsides and downsides, but it has comparatively little to do with the sprawl. The sprawl is mostly a result of the manner by which Houston chose to grow: by annexing neighboring municipalities that were growing quickest to gobble up their tax dollars. And even for all that famous sprawl, Houston is seeing the same sort of urban in-fill that every other major US metro area is seeing... it just has a lot more land to fill before it achieves similar density.

Bjartr 11y ago

>Shouldn't there be propositions for denser zoning, land reclamation, or other measures that would increase the SF housing stock? What, and hurt profit margins?

eru 11y ago
If you can build up, you can rent out to more people..