5 ms·
It is mind-numbing the extent to which everyone playing a role in this housing crisis wants to wriggle out of their share of the blame more than they want to ac
by beatpanda 11y ago
It is mind-numbing the extent to which everyone playing a role in this housing crisis wants to wriggle out of their share of the blame more than they want to actually solve the problem.
I was one of the people constantly seeking a single source of blame for this until I read a book about systems thinking. Completely changed my life. The problem is I now see how the competing interests of all the players make this an almost completely intractable problem.
A huge influx of highly-paid workers is partially to blame for the housing crisis. So are activists who prevent any new construction. So are politicians who make policies making new construction prohibitively expensive. Etc etc etc. Everyone plays a role, but nobody wants to give anything up, so the people who lose, as always, are the people who are already marginalized.
We need less writing like this and more writing that gives people a bird's-eye view of the entire problem.
- jdavis703 11y agoWhat was this book?
- beatpanda 11y agoThinking in Systems: A Primer
- saosebastiao 11y agoAn excellent book, and unfortunately one that most people are not going to bother reading. It has permanently changed how I think about problems and their solutions.
- methodover 11y ago> Everyone plays a role, but nobody wants to give anything up, I'm just curious, but what could new tech workers give up, exactly? Entrenched local interests could ease up on building restrictions. That's what they'd give up. Politicians who make anti-construction policies could stop doing that. That's what they'd give up. I don't understand what migrants like myself (a programmer who moved here a few years ago to work at a startup) are supposed to give up.
- existencebox 11y agoNot necessarily the migrants themselves, but to pose a thought: The "broader tech community" could become more accepting of remote work, and focus more effort on removing the blockers people see in the way of allowing more remote work within their scope. Us migrants (myself included) can have a role in this, we can give portions of our very limited free time in trying to find solutions to the remote problem, which may lie largely in the technical space we find our strengths. (I understand the thrust of your statement, just positing some actionable steps that even those of us most at the whims of the existing powers that be can push towards a better outcome for ourselves.)
- beatpanda 11y agoInstead of getting involved in bidding wars for apartments in prized locations and driving up the price, you could choose to live somewhere a little further away and commute, for instance. Or VCs could give up forcing all of their portfolio companies to move to San Francisco and allow people to build businesses wherever they are. Or tech CEOs could give up having everyone in the office and allow people to work from wherever they want. Speaking for myself, I gave up a whole lot of comfort to live in a construction site while I'm building a tiny house in a friend's backyard. I am adding to the housing stock, instead of increasing the price of the existing housing stock.
- eecsninja 11y agoThe problem is that housing limits are not restricted to SF. The housing crunch is felt all across the bay area. Even if all the tech folks decided not to live in SF, that would still drive up prices elsewhere: San Mateo, Palo Alto, Mtn View, etc. This problem will persist as long as the various SF bay area cities don't deal with the development/infrastructure issue. For example, San Mateo will gladly allow new office space but block new housing. Where are those office workers supposed to live? The problem just gets brushed under the rug.
- Tempest1981 11y ago> live somewhere a little further away and commute I wonder if we're reaching a "tipping point", where 10% more traffic means 33% longer commutes.