4 ms·

Huh? It isn't capitalism that is preventing high density housing from being built. The shortage of affordable housing is the inevitable result of regulation by

by gwright 10y ago

Huh? It isn't capitalism that is preventing high density housing from being built. The shortage of affordable housing is the inevitable result of regulation by government (zoning laws).

mistermann 10y ago
Agreed, I may be wrong, I guess maybe I have it backwards! Either way, it's infuriatingly ridiculous, whoever is to blame is causing severe damage to a substantial percentage of a lot of people's lives.
- TulliusCicero 10y ago
  Yes, developers would love to build more housing. Various regulations make it difficult, or even impossible (depending on the area). The funny thing is that the bay area as a whole isn't even that dense. Yeah it's a metro of 7 million, but it's fairly spread out. There's plenty of room for more housing without resorting to high rises everywhere, but we can't get mid-rise or even low-rise most places.
  - andyjdavis 10y ago
    It becomes ever more bizarre to me how resistant to increasing population density some people are the more time I spend in cities with comparatively high population density. Bangkok, Taipei, Tokyo etc. Do you want to be able to walk to get your groceries, to eat out, to meet friends? Do you want to have fast, efficient public transport? Do you want to not have the expense of purchasing and maintaining a vehicle? You need a few other ingredients of course but population density is a prerequisite for so many wonderful things. As an aside, if you have never lived in an apartment building that has a supermarket or at least a convenience store actually in the building you are missing out on an amazing level of convenience.
    - mistermann 10y ago
      Highly dense cities with beautiful public parks are wonderful in my opinion, most anything you need within a 5 minute walk, yes please.
muzz 10y ago
From the article: "San Jose last year estimated that for every 1,000 square feet of single-family housing, the city budget takes a net loss of $255 a year, compared with a gain of $1,064 for the same size commercial space."
- gwright 10y ago
  I don't know enough about the details of property tax in California other than Prop 13 has some pretty strong side-effects and/or unintended consequences. And the tax implications of multi-tenant units might be entirely different than those for a single-family homes.

by gwright 10y ago

Huh? It isn't capitalism that is preventing high density housing from being built. The shortage of affordable housing is the inevitable result of regulation by government (zoning laws).

mistermann 10y ago

Agreed, I may be wrong, I guess maybe I have it backwards! Either way, it's infuriatingly ridiculous, whoever is to blame is causing severe damage to a substantial percentage of a lot of people's lives.

TulliusCicero 10y ago
Yes, developers would love to build more housing. Various regulations make it difficult, or even impossible (depending on the area). The funny thing is that the bay area as a whole isn't even that dense. Yeah it's a metro of 7 million, but it's fairly spread out. There's plenty of room for more housing without resorting to high rises everywhere, but we can't get mid-rise or even low-rise most places.
- andyjdavis 10y ago
  It becomes ever more bizarre to me how resistant to increasing population density some people are the more time I spend in cities with comparatively high population density. Bangkok, Taipei, Tokyo etc. Do you want to be able to walk to get your groceries, to eat out, to meet friends? Do you want to have fast, efficient public transport? Do you want to not have the expense of purchasing and maintaining a vehicle? You need a few other ingredients of course but population density is a prerequisite for so many wonderful things. As an aside, if you have never lived in an apartment building that has a supermarket or at least a convenience store actually in the building you are missing out on an amazing level of convenience.
  - mistermann 10y ago
    Highly dense cities with beautiful public parks are wonderful in my opinion, most anything you need within a 5 minute walk, yes please.

muzz 10y ago

From the article: "San Jose last year estimated that for every 1,000 square feet of single-family housing, the city budget takes a net loss of $255 a year, compared with a gain of $1,064 for the same size commercial space."

gwright 10y ago
I don't know enough about the details of property tax in California other than Prop 13 has some pretty strong side-effects and/or unintended consequences. And the tax implications of multi-tenant units might be entirely different than those for a single-family homes.