4 ms·

>his rent in East Palo Alto doubled to $4,000 a month It'd be repetitive to observe how insane that is so I'll say it's going to be hard to beat interests with

>his rent in East Palo Alto doubled to $4,000 a month It'd be repetitive to observe how insane that is so I'll say it's going to be hard to beat interests with that much money. Maybe if prop 10 had passed there'd be some glimmer of hope.

twblalock 8y ago
Rent control is a terrible policy and it is good for California that Prop 10 failed. The only solution is to allow more housing to be built.
- TomMckenny 8y ago
  Landlords opposed it and tenants put it on the ballot, it is unlikely all parties were acting against their own interest. Rent-control has been essentially banned since 1995 yet housing costs have exceeded wages during that time. It's also quite extreme to claim that rent-control is so bad for every possible community everywhere that it must be universally outlawed. Towns which now have fewer construction restrictions than in '95, also have raising land costs. Pricing of necessary goods differs from ordinary goods. The expanding and primarily ideologically driven Lezze-Faire approaches have clearly failed in both medicine and housing. And while the US might be growing tired of wasted GDP on mediocre medical outcomes, it is clear the society will tolerate vastly more homelessness and degradation in housing conditions, regrettably.
  - twblalock 8y ago
    If you think we have had laissez-faire housing policies you're completely wrong. Housing policy is probably less free than any other part of the market. We have an enormous number of zoning laws that prevent people from building what they want to build on the land they own. Whenever new housing projects are proposed they get locked up in court for years because the existing homeowners feel entitled to freeze their neighborhoods in stasis so they will never change. Meanwhile the most expensive Bay Area cities are the ones that have rent control, because rent control is a form of price control and all price controls create shortages. Why would any reasonable person want to invest in building housing when the city government gets to tell them how much they can charge for rent?
    - TomMckenny 8y ago
      >Why would any reasonable person want to invest in building housing when the city government gets to tell them how much they can charge for rent? Why do landlords oppose rent control if it will raise prices? Why do tenants favor it? Theories notwithstanding, it simply is untrue that rent control halts development. New York city has had rent control for generations and has had an abundance of development. At this moment more than 2 million units are under some form of rent control.[0] >the most expensive Bay Area cities are the ones that have rent control This is a myth. The 5 most expensive Bay Area rental areas are in Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Cupertino, Foster City, Palo Alto. None of which have rent control. Of the top 20, only 4 are in SF and 1 in Berkeley.[1] And comparing medians, Berkeley is cheapest[2]. And while relaxing construction requirements will help, the over valuation of land guarantees the effect will be small. For example, this slum centered small triangular dirt lot is 1.6million [3] [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_control_in_New_York https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_control_in_New_York [1] https://www.sfgate.com/expensive-san-francisco/article/most-expensive-zip-codes-San-Francisco-Bay-Area-13197633.php#photo-16304014 https://www.sfgate.com/expensive-san-francisco/article/most-... [2]https://sf.curbed.com/2018/5/3/17316196/berkeley-rent-median-numbers-san-francisco-2018-cost https://sf.curbed.com/2018/5/3/17316196/berkeley-rent-median... [3] https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Oakland-CA/pmf,pf_pt/land_type/2111233543_zpid/13072_rid/globalrelevanceex_sort/37.823904,-122.261031,37.805732,-122.292703_rect/14_zm/ https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Oakland-CA/pmf,pf_pt/l...

twblalock 8y ago

Rent control is a terrible policy and it is good for California that Prop 10 failed. The only solution is to allow more housing to be built.

TomMckenny 8y ago
Landlords opposed it and tenants put it on the ballot, it is unlikely all parties were acting against their own interest. Rent-control has been essentially banned since 1995 yet housing costs have exceeded wages during that time. It's also quite extreme to claim that rent-control is so bad for every possible community everywhere that it must be universally outlawed. Towns which now have fewer construction restrictions than in '95, also have raising land costs. Pricing of necessary goods differs from ordinary goods. The expanding and primarily ideologically driven Lezze-Faire approaches have clearly failed in both medicine and housing. And while the US might be growing tired of wasted GDP on mediocre medical outcomes, it is clear the society will tolerate vastly more homelessness and degradation in housing conditions, regrettably.
- twblalock 8y ago
  If you think we have had laissez-faire housing policies you're completely wrong. Housing policy is probably less free than any other part of the market. We have an enormous number of zoning laws that prevent people from building what they want to build on the land they own. Whenever new housing projects are proposed they get locked up in court for years because the existing homeowners feel entitled to freeze their neighborhoods in stasis so they will never change. Meanwhile the most expensive Bay Area cities are the ones that have rent control, because rent control is a form of price control and all price controls create shortages. Why would any reasonable person want to invest in building housing when the city government gets to tell them how much they can charge for rent?
  - TomMckenny 8y ago
    >Why would any reasonable person want to invest in building housing when the city government gets to tell them how much they can charge for rent? Why do landlords oppose rent control if it will raise prices? Why do tenants favor it? Theories notwithstanding, it simply is untrue that rent control halts development. New York city has had rent control for generations and has had an abundance of development. At this moment more than 2 million units are under some form of rent control.[0] >the most expensive Bay Area cities are the ones that have rent control This is a myth. The 5 most expensive Bay Area rental areas are in Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Cupertino, Foster City, Palo Alto. None of which have rent control. Of the top 20, only 4 are in SF and 1 in Berkeley.[1] And comparing medians, Berkeley is cheapest[2]. And while relaxing construction requirements will help, the over valuation of land guarantees the effect will be small. For example, this slum centered small triangular dirt lot is 1.6million [3] [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_control_in_New_York https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_control_in_New_York [1] https://www.sfgate.com/expensive-san-francisco/article/most-expensive-zip-codes-San-Francisco-Bay-Area-13197633.php#photo-16304014 https://www.sfgate.com/expensive-san-francisco/article/most-... [2]https://sf.curbed.com/2018/5/3/17316196/berkeley-rent-median-numbers-san-francisco-2018-cost https://sf.curbed.com/2018/5/3/17316196/berkeley-rent-median... [3] https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Oakland-CA/pmf,pf_pt/land_type/2111233543_zpid/13072_rid/globalrelevanceex_sort/37.823904,-122.261031,37.805732,-122.292703_rect/14_zm/ https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Oakland-CA/pmf,pf_pt/l...