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It's a combination of demand and city-policies. San Francisco has a lower population density than queens, but the same housing price levels as Manhattan. If the
by whack 10y ago
It's a combination of demand and city-policies. San Francisco has a lower population density than queens, but the same housing price levels as Manhattan. If the city got its act together and built up a housing density that's on par with Manhattan, cost of living would fall dramatically.
Good governance matters. It makes a huge difference in cost-of-living. The way SF is run, it's almost as though people want the cost-of-living to be as high as possible.
- softawre 10y ago> The way SF is run, it's almost as though people want the cost-of-living to be as high as possible. Surely you're joking? Of course that's what they want. SF people, home owners, are voting on SF policy. Do you want to lose half the value of your house?
- dragonwriter 10y ago> SF people, home owners, are voting on SF policy. Do you want to lose half the value of your house? Its more complex than that, as SF people voting on policy also include renters, and even if rent control insulates them from directly paying for price increases, market price declines save them money (and both increases and declines affect local costs of other goods, so they affect CoL even if they don't directly affect existing renters rent payments.) But, renters are largely people who have decided the trade-off of quality for cost at the current price does make sense, so they are less likely than outsiders who might want to move to SF if it was more affordable to make trade-offs that impact the qualities that they prefer in SF for lower prices, even if it would reduce their cost of living.