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This related blog post is an interesting read: Building Affordable Housing: Where Has the Entry Level House Gone? http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2016/08/buil

This related blog post is an interesting read: Building Affordable Housing: Where Has the Entry Level House Gone? http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2016/08/building-affordable-housing-where-has.html?m=1 http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2016/08/building-affordable-...

mywittyname 8y ago
This kind of highlights a huge issue with being poor: lack of mobility. If people with modest budgets could afford to pack up and move to Columbia, Missouri, then the cost burden of housing could be mitigated somewhat. We'd probably see housing prices stabilize across the country. As it stands, only wealthy people can afford to migrate across the country, usually in pursuit of even more wealth. This just adds to the problem because it results in more dollars chasing a supply of existing houses that isn't expanding rapidly enough. Probably, the only way to reverse this trend now is to raise property taxes on single family homes in desirable locations such that it becomes uneconomical to maintain them as such. Then these massive tracts of suburbia can be bought up by developers who are incentivized to build high-density housing. Of course, a serious proposal of this sort is likely to get you killed.
- chucksmash 8y ago
  Heh, not to be the guy posting urbankchoze links all day but the author has thoughts on this as well actually[0]. The whole article is a good read but the thing that feels most pertinent is the idea of dynamic zoning; instead of zoning an area for single family residential you'd essentially zone areas such that new construction rules would be: - allowed_height = max(2, ceil(avg_area_height * 1.5)) - allowed_occupancy = ceil(avg_area_occupancy * 1.5) And then without the need for zoning exemptions and political zoning fights, you let neighborhoods up zone themselves organically based on demand. Average building two stories? You can build a three story low rise. Average height three stories? You can build a five story replacement. I think lowering the barriers to higher density in-fill would effectively accomplish what you're aiming for while side stepping some of the political issues you've foreseen with raising taxes on people until they're forced to leave their homes. [0]: http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/05/how-to-make-urban-housing-more_7.html?m=1 http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/05/how-to-make-urban-ho...
- philwelch 8y ago
  > If people with modest budgets could afford to pack up and move to Columbia, Missouri, then the cost burden of housing could be mitigated somewhat. We'd probably see housing prices stabilize across the country. I'm not sure if it's an issue with modest budgets or if it's an issue with job availability. Lots of people can pack up and move to Columbia, Missouri. But the jobs that exist here don't exist there. If anything, being extremely poor helps with mobility. If you're living off disability, there's a pretty decent payoff to buying a Greyhound ticket to an area with cheaper rent, because you get the same disability check no matter where you live. Homeless people are similarly extremely mobile. It's the whole middle-class, have-to-work-for-a-living-and-my-job-is-right-here lifestyle that inhibits mobility. > Probably, the only way to reverse this trend now is to raise property taxes on single family homes in desirable locations such that it becomes uneconomical to maintain them as such. Then these massive tracts of suburbia can be bought up by developers who are incentivized to build high-density housing. Of course, a serious proposal of this sort is likely to get you killed. This kind of happens implicitly with a Land Value Tax, except there might be ways of implementing an LVT that wouldn't immediately displace single family homeowners. Also, you don't need "massive tracts of suburbia" to build high-density housing; the whole point of high-density housing is that it doesn't take as much land. You can just leave most of suburbia alone.
  - mywittyname 8y ago
    I relocated when I was poor, single, and in college. Literally the only reason I was able to do so was because I knew a person in the town I was moving to. Without a social network, it would have been impossible for me to relocate without also becoming homeless. People with money can find apartments or stay in hotels. People in my situation needed money for a place to stay before they could get a job.

mywittyname 8y ago

This kind of highlights a huge issue with being poor: lack of mobility. If people with modest budgets could afford to pack up and move to Columbia, Missouri, then the cost burden of housing could be mitigated somewhat. We'd probably see housing prices stabilize across the country. As it stands, only wealthy people can afford to migrate across the country, usually in pursuit of even more wealth. This just adds to the problem because it results in more dollars chasing a supply of existing houses that isn't expanding rapidly enough. Probably, the only way to reverse this trend now is to raise property taxes on single family homes in desirable locations such that it becomes uneconomical to maintain them as such. Then these massive tracts of suburbia can be bought up by developers who are incentivized to build high-density housing. Of course, a serious proposal of this sort is likely to get you killed.

chucksmash 8y ago
Heh, not to be the guy posting urbankchoze links all day but the author has thoughts on this as well actually[0]. The whole article is a good read but the thing that feels most pertinent is the idea of dynamic zoning; instead of zoning an area for single family residential you'd essentially zone areas such that new construction rules would be: - allowed_height = max(2, ceil(avg_area_height * 1.5)) - allowed_occupancy = ceil(avg_area_occupancy * 1.5) And then without the need for zoning exemptions and political zoning fights, you let neighborhoods up zone themselves organically based on demand. Average building two stories? You can build a three story low rise. Average height three stories? You can build a five story replacement. I think lowering the barriers to higher density in-fill would effectively accomplish what you're aiming for while side stepping some of the political issues you've foreseen with raising taxes on people until they're forced to leave their homes. [0]: http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/05/how-to-make-urban-housing-more_7.html?m=1 http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/05/how-to-make-urban-ho...
philwelch 8y ago
> If people with modest budgets could afford to pack up and move to Columbia, Missouri, then the cost burden of housing could be mitigated somewhat. We'd probably see housing prices stabilize across the country. I'm not sure if it's an issue with modest budgets or if it's an issue with job availability. Lots of people can pack up and move to Columbia, Missouri. But the jobs that exist here don't exist there. If anything, being extremely poor helps with mobility. If you're living off disability, there's a pretty decent payoff to buying a Greyhound ticket to an area with cheaper rent, because you get the same disability check no matter where you live. Homeless people are similarly extremely mobile. It's the whole middle-class, have-to-work-for-a-living-and-my-job-is-right-here lifestyle that inhibits mobility. > Probably, the only way to reverse this trend now is to raise property taxes on single family homes in desirable locations such that it becomes uneconomical to maintain them as such. Then these massive tracts of suburbia can be bought up by developers who are incentivized to build high-density housing. Of course, a serious proposal of this sort is likely to get you killed. This kind of happens implicitly with a Land Value Tax, except there might be ways of implementing an LVT that wouldn't immediately displace single family homeowners. Also, you don't need "massive tracts of suburbia" to build high-density housing; the whole point of high-density housing is that it doesn't take as much land. You can just leave most of suburbia alone.
- mywittyname 8y ago
  I relocated when I was poor, single, and in college. Literally the only reason I was able to do so was because I knew a person in the town I was moving to. Without a social network, it would have been impossible for me to relocate without also becoming homeless. People with money can find apartments or stay in hotels. People in my situation needed money for a place to stay before they could get a job.