4 ms·

In Cambridge, a faction of candidates for city council promises that they will make housing affordable by opposing the construction of new housing. Apparently

by rspeer 11y ago

In Cambridge, a faction of candidates for city council promises that they will make housing affordable by opposing the construction of new housing. Apparently you can just tell people that supply and demand work the opposite way in the housing market, and people will believe you.

home_boi 11y ago
The reasoning might be that if a place gets luxury apartments, rich people will flood the area. Then the crime rate per capita goes down. The criminal population becomes diluted. It starts a snowball effect where crappy apartments in the area looks more and more attractive to the upper middle class as more upper middle class outbid previous poorer renters for the old housing.
- rspeer 11y ago
  I know that's the argument, but it doesn't make much sense to me. It's comparing to a fictitious alternative where rich people don't move in. Why wouldn't they? It's already a desirable place to live, so rich people desire it too, and by definition they can afford to act on that desire. It is not hard for a rich person to outbid a poorer renter. I mean, this doesn't require a complicated explanation. Whether or not there's new housing, rich people can already outbid current renters because they have more money. And when this happens without new housing, not only does a rich person move in, someone else moves out. By trying to prevent gentrification from indirectly causing displacement, you just cause the displacement right away. This still sounds like supply and demand doing what one would expect, not doing the opposite.
mtanski 11y ago
This is a phenomenon that's not unique to Cambridge. In many places around the country NIBY forces convinced people that if they don't build new housing neighborhoods will stay (or become affordable) because there won't be new people moving in. At least that's the logic. This kind of line of reasoning is happening in East New York (far east neighborhood in BK). The local population / community board / local city council people were protesting re-zoning currently mostly industrial stretch of land. But it looks like the rezoning got pushed through. If it didn't happen folks who no longer had money for the spaces they wanted in eastern Bedstuy & Bushwich already have started pushing more eastward into East New York / Cypress hill area. This can be evidences by the increase in housing prices in those area in the last few years and number of new smaller buildings and gut renos happening.

by rspeer 11y ago

home_boi 11y ago

The reasoning might be that if a place gets luxury apartments, rich people will flood the area. Then the crime rate per capita goes down. The criminal population becomes diluted. It starts a snowball effect where crappy apartments in the area looks more and more attractive to the upper middle class as more upper middle class outbid previous poorer renters for the old housing.

rspeer 11y ago
I know that's the argument, but it doesn't make much sense to me. It's comparing to a fictitious alternative where rich people don't move in. Why wouldn't they? It's already a desirable place to live, so rich people desire it too, and by definition they can afford to act on that desire. It is not hard for a rich person to outbid a poorer renter. I mean, this doesn't require a complicated explanation. Whether or not there's new housing, rich people can already outbid current renters because they have more money. And when this happens without new housing, not only does a rich person move in, someone else moves out. By trying to prevent gentrification from indirectly causing displacement, you just cause the displacement right away. This still sounds like supply and demand doing what one would expect, not doing the opposite.

mtanski 11y ago

This is a phenomenon that's not unique to Cambridge. In many places around the country NIBY forces convinced people that if they don't build new housing neighborhoods will stay (or become affordable) because there won't be new people moving in. At least that's the logic. This kind of line of reasoning is happening in East New York (far east neighborhood in BK). The local population / community board / local city council people were protesting re-zoning currently mostly industrial stretch of land. But it looks like the rezoning got pushed through. If it didn't happen folks who no longer had money for the spaces they wanted in eastern Bedstuy & Bushwich already have started pushing more eastward into East New York / Cypress hill area. This can be evidences by the increase in housing prices in those area in the last few years and number of new smaller buildings and gut renos happening.