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Calling it an affordable housing "shortage" implies that we need more housing in order for it to become affordable. The fact is there is already plenty of housi
by smattiso 8y ago
Calling it an affordable housing "shortage" implies that we need more housing in order for it to become affordable. The fact is there is already plenty of housing (people live somewhere don't they?) the problem is that it is unaffordable because supply and demand will never cause the rents to go down en masse. It's one of the few limited resources that people are forced to buy that essentially has no maximum price.
Everybody starts getting basic income? Rents will rise to eat up the majority of that income without some external control. The same way we needed unions, minimum wage, etc. we need a collective bargaining system for the renters vs. landowners. Rent control, what have you. It's kind of the antithesis of the American dream but what we have isnt working all that well.
- DoreenMichele 8y agohttps://www.geekwire.com/2018/every-100-families-living-poverty-west-coast-no-30-affordable-homes/ https://www.geekwire.com/2018/every-100-families-living-pove... There is a serious homeless problem in the US. Some folks "living somewhere" are living in a tent or an illegal Air BnB etc.
- smattiso 8y agoAs a percentage what are talking about? There are homes and apartments aplenty, the biggest issue is the economics of it. What would cause rents to go down? An oversupply? What would cause an oversupply? Barring some regional crash it would have to be overbuilding. People aren't dumb and they won't overbuild. They will build as demand increases but they certainly won't lower prices. If anything they will raise them. It's obvious.
- eanzenberg 8y agoIt’s unaffordable because many people are inherently selfish and want to live in desirable locations as opposed to the already afforable areas that the majority land-mass of the USA consititutes.
- smattiso 8y agoI dont think that's it at all. Even in "undesireable" places the rents approach what a median income earner can afford anywhere. It's akin to why we have minimum wages. Without them people will work (out of desperation) for pennies because they have to.
- csomar 8y ago> people live somewhere don't they? They live together when they prefer to have their own base (like 4 workers sharing the same 2 bed-rooms). They also live with their parents, as inconvenient as it is. No there is a housing problem.
- smattiso 8y agoWhat is the cause in your opinion? Undersupply? Or an economic stable equilibrium that sucks for everybody besides owners?
- csomar 8y agoImho, housing technology is stuck in the last decade. There is no reasonable government that is trying to fix the problem (housing requires transportation and common infrastructure). Hong Kong is an example of how to let everyone live together. The west could leverage by doing that plus having an option to have a country side home and car for the weekend. Instead we have busy highways, old buildings, slow common transportation, etc... New York is a good example but it blows my mind why they don't invest more in the subway, modernize the buildings, etc... Plus it cost a fortune to live there.
- closeparen 8y agoThe housing we have is in parts of the country with few economic prospects, such that people would rather be rent-burdened than continue living in them. There is not nearly enough walkable, transit-connected housing in major urban centers, because it’s usually illegal to build, and that’s what’s in short supply.