5 ms·

This nightmare has been building for 4 decades and it's finally reaching a breaking point. Here's my recommendation: - Work with builders to remove all regula

This nightmare has been building for 4 decades and it's finally reaching a breaking point. Here's my recommendation: - Work with builders to remove all regulations that prevent building. - Zone much more residential areas - Remove all height restrictions - invite builders to build and offer them legal protection from NIMBYs - dezone some of non-residential zoning, if needed: In places where there's limited space, we need to move those companies to locations that can handle the influx of workers - declare certain areas as innovation building zones: Remove all building regulations and let start ups build whatever residential areas in any way they can. Let innovation blossom without hamstringing it with countless regulations. There are good reasons why this trillion dollar PROBLEM/pain point/industry has been completely ignored by venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. We need to understand those reasons and mitigate those concerns.

eru 9y ago
You don't even need to remove all height restrictions (even though it might be useful). See http://urbankchoze.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html http://urbankchoze.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/japanese-zoning.ht... for an overview over the Japanese system. One of the key features is that the different zones allow much more different uses in Japan.
s73ver_ 9y ago
"- Work with builders to remove all regulations that prevent building." This would end disastrously. "All those earthquake safety regulations, those are really preventing me from building." "Those environmental regulations, the ones that stop me from polluting everywhere, those are really preventing me from building." "- declare certain areas as innovation building zones: Remove all building regulations and let start ups build whatever residential areas in any way they can. Let innovation blossom without hamstringing it with countless regulations." See above. Most of those regulations were put into place for a reason. Also, this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Oakland_warehouse_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Oakland_warehouse_fire
- pascalxus 9y ago
  We can't simply assume that removing those regulations will result in a disaster. Look at the actual data. Find, the regulations which limit the most building - maybe they're not even safety related. many parts of CEQA for instance does nothing to help the environment but has prevented huge amounts of housing. And for those that are safety related, maybe there's a way to alter them or at least get rid of them just temporarily until the homeless emergency has been mitigated. Anything is better than leaving people out on the street - in any case, that's not a decision you or i should make, but rather the people it affects.
  - s73ver_ 9y ago
    "We can't simply assume that removing those regulations will result in a disaster. " Yes, we absolutely can. If business can get around it, they will. And then when an earthquake hits, all that housing is destroyed.
    - peoplewindow 9y ago
      It's not impossible to build taller buildings than what you get in the valley that are still earthquake safe. Even just burying parking lots underground would probably 1.5x the amount of space available for building.
  - s73ver_ 9y ago
    "And for those that are safety related, maybe there's a way to alter them or at least get rid of them just temporarily until the homeless emergency has been mitigated. Anything is better than leaving people out on the street" I don't buy that argument for a second. Take, for instance, the Grenfell tower fire. Regulations were ignored, and 68 people died because of it.
- pmoriarty 9y ago
  Also see the Grenfell Tower fire, and the follow-up investigations which showed that many other buildings are at risk. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire
Spooky23 9y ago
How about GTFO of Northern California? High quality housing in my city is about $120/ft.

eru 9y ago

You don't even need to remove all height restrictions (even though it might be useful). See http://urbankchoze.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html http://urbankchoze.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/japanese-zoning.ht... for an overview over the Japanese system. One of the key features is that the different zones allow much more different uses in Japan.

s73ver_ 9y ago

"- Work with builders to remove all regulations that prevent building." This would end disastrously. "All those earthquake safety regulations, those are really preventing me from building." "Those environmental regulations, the ones that stop me from polluting everywhere, those are really preventing me from building." "- declare certain areas as innovation building zones: Remove all building regulations and let start ups build whatever residential areas in any way they can. Let innovation blossom without hamstringing it with countless regulations." See above. Most of those regulations were put into place for a reason. Also, this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Oakland_warehouse_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Oakland_warehouse_fire

pascalxus 9y ago
We can't simply assume that removing those regulations will result in a disaster. Look at the actual data. Find, the regulations which limit the most building - maybe they're not even safety related. many parts of CEQA for instance does nothing to help the environment but has prevented huge amounts of housing. And for those that are safety related, maybe there's a way to alter them or at least get rid of them just temporarily until the homeless emergency has been mitigated. Anything is better than leaving people out on the street - in any case, that's not a decision you or i should make, but rather the people it affects.
- s73ver_ 9y ago
  "We can't simply assume that removing those regulations will result in a disaster. " Yes, we absolutely can. If business can get around it, they will. And then when an earthquake hits, all that housing is destroyed.
  - peoplewindow 9y ago
    It's not impossible to build taller buildings than what you get in the valley that are still earthquake safe. Even just burying parking lots underground would probably 1.5x the amount of space available for building.
- s73ver_ 9y ago
  "And for those that are safety related, maybe there's a way to alter them or at least get rid of them just temporarily until the homeless emergency has been mitigated. Anything is better than leaving people out on the street" I don't buy that argument for a second. Take, for instance, the Grenfell tower fire. Regulations were ignored, and 68 people died because of it.
pmoriarty 9y ago
Also see the Grenfell Tower fire, and the follow-up investigations which showed that many other buildings are at risk. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire

Spooky23 9y ago

How about GTFO of Northern California? High quality housing in my city is about $120/ft.