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So how does the process of adding housing units work? If there's space as the article claims, and plenty of demand, whats holding things up? Bureaucracy? I'd l
by bllguo 10y ago
So how does the process of adding housing units work? If there's space as the article claims, and plenty of demand, whats holding things up? Bureaucracy?
I'd like to see reasonable prices sometime in my life !
- kqr2 10y agoThis is a complex question, but here are some resources to get started: http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2015/finance/housing-costs/housing-costs.aspx http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2015/finance/housing-costs/hou... http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/14/sf-housing/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/14/sf-housing/
- pjlegato 10y agoMainly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_13_(1978) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_13_(197...
- xienze 10y agoWell that valley has pretty much every bit of flat land developed, so where are you going to put these high density developments without knocking down existing houses?
- TulliusCicero 10y agoI also wanted to note that not all of the new housing is coming on top of houses. Close to where I live, there's a strip mall with an enormous parking lot that just got knocked down and is being converted to mixed-use development, including lots of apartments[1]. A bit further away next to Lawrence Caltrain station, and old suburban-style office park was torn down and again, has a big mixed-use development being built there[2]. 1 - http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2015/10/13/santa-clara-kohls-to-close-after-holidays-as-essex.html http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2015/10/13/santa-cla... 2 - http://blogs.mercurynews.com/internal-affairs/2014/05/19/santa-claras-big-new-project-and-its-back-story/ http://blogs.mercurynews.com/internal-affairs/2014/05/19/san...
- hx87 10y agoAllow residents of those existing houses to add additional floors, convert garages, add a granny flat, et cetera. Large parts of Boston consist of nothing but 3-story, 3-unit apartments, often with a live-in landlord, and it's quite dense.
- xienze 10y agoI don't think there's enough people in the valley with the money and the desire to convert and rent out part of their house to do much of anything about the demand.
- hx87 10y agoYou might have a point about desire, but with the levels of land value inflation there, almost any owner can take out enough of a home equity loan to finance the construction or conversion of additional units.
- kqr2 10y agoWe should let the market decide. The same argument was used against airbnb : who wants to rent out part of their house to strangers?
- TulliusCicero 10y agoI disagree, but either way, looser zoning would allow it to happen, not force it to happen. If people don't want to sell, well, nobody would make them.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- TulliusCicero 10y agoWhat's wrong with knocking down existing houses? If the homeowners want to sell to developers that will build higher-density housing on their land, what exactly is the problem? I mean, probably every dense neighborhood in the world was at one time lower-density, and had its old buildings knocked down and replaced. This isn't anything new.
- dragonwriter 10y ago> If the homeowners want to sell to developers that will build higher-density housing on their land, what's wrong with that? Generally, not all of them do, which is why redevelopment usually involves use of eminent domain.
- TulliusCicero 10y agoSource on that? AFAIK eminent domain for private development is rare, the vast, vast majority of the time developers just offer enough money to convince people to sell.
- pyre 10y agoNot so rare that it doesn't have a Supreme Court case[1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London
- TulliusCicero 10y agoIt's my understanding that the Supreme Court case is so notable precisely because eminent domain for private development is so rare.
- xienze 10y agoI didn't say there's anything wrong with that but it's certainly a hurdle to clear (what if one person refuses to sell?).
- skewart 10y agoThe same places that you put urban developments in most cities - you repurpose existing underused buildings and spaces in existing urban neighborhoods. There are lots and lots of parking lots, underutilized commercial buildings, and low density apartment complexes that can be redeveloped at a relatively higher density.
- raldi 10y agoPlaces like this: http://missionlocal.org/2016/01/community-meeting-on-new-sf-mission-housing-turns-ugly/ http://missionlocal.org/2016/01/community-meeting-on-new-sf-...
- johan_larson 10y agoZoning laws. And existing owners who staunchly oppose increasing density by building larger buildings. A lot of people who bought their single-family homes years or decades ago now live in appealing low-density neighborhoods with home values that are sky-rocketing. They don't want their neighborhoods to change into concrete canyons, and the ever-rising values of their homes fund their retirements very nicely. They therefore fight any attempt to increase density by loosening zoning laws. This behavior is exacerbated by how California handles its property taxes. Essentially, the property taxes on a home are fixed at the value of the home when you bought it, meaning people living in homes that have increased in value are paying disproportionately low property taxes. This tends to discourage people from moving, thereby reducing the liquidity of the home market.
- jandrese 10y agoIt is also one of the big reasons California can have such an enormous theoretical tax base, but still manage to run a massive deficit. You can bet there would be more pushback on those skyrocketing home values if people had to pay the taxes on them. Its too late for a lot of people in the valley, they couldn't afford to pay anything close to what their homes current access at. It is the epitome of Got Mine, Fuck You.
- TelAviv_1 10y agoWhy do you think I should pay crazy property tax values on the Sunnyvale house I paid $250,000 for in 1988 just because some nut paid $2,000,000 for the identical house next door to mine last year? Why do you want to see my pushed out of my home with a $45,000/year property tax bill? You are pure evil, plain and simple.
- ojbyrne 10y agoWhile the point is somewhat valid, California hasn't had a budget deficit (let alone a "massive" one) since 2012.
- codemac 10y agoThe people who bought their houses 30+ years ago I really feel for. The change the area is experiencing is brutal, and imagine if everyone just kept asking you why you don't sell and move away from the very place you built? It's futile for them to fight things, and honestly it ruins a lot of people's lives that they do. However I completely understand why they would push back on density, most people don't have to deal with growth at these types of numbers over their lifetime.