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it turns out that if you care about everyone having a place to live that they can afford given the jobs available to them, the free market sucks. the solution
by 0x262d 7y ago
it turns out that if you care about everyone having a place to live that they can afford given the jobs available to them, the free market sucks.
the solution is to build more (socially owned, permanently affordable, high quality) housing. emphasis on the part where it isn't a slum that is doomed to fail and is horrible to live in.
- mamon 7y agoAnd where is that mythical place that actually has free market for housing? Most countries/states have building codes and other regulations that mess up simple supply/demand dynamic.
- fwip 7y agoThe "free market" is not a binary value. Surely you agree that there's a difference between building codes and state-owned housing?
- 0x262d 7y agosorry for forgetting to qualify "free market" as "so-called 'free' market". there isn't a shortage of housing, there is a shortage of affordable housing, which for-profit developers don't care about building.
- gwright 7y agoWhat free market are you talking about? Do you think the housing market in these cities is unencumbered by government regulation? The shortage isn't created by lack of interest by developers, the law is preventing them from creating more housing units.
- 0x262d 7y agosorry for forgetting to qualify "free market" as "so-called 'free' market". there isn't a shortage of housing, there is a shortage of affordable housing, which for-profit developers don't care about building.
- gwright 7y agoYou seem to have a misunderstanding of how markets work. The high prices are caused by the artificial restrictions on satisfying the demand, not by developers not wanting to build. Another way to think about this is that if a developer is going to go through all the effort to get permission to build (years of delay, paperwork, PR, etc.) then those costs have to be recouped by developing something at a higher price point. Those restrictions have made it impossible to build something at a lower price point.
- 0x262d 7y agono, free markets are an illusion that don't actually ever exist because they're immediately distorted by various things like market dominance. property developers exist to make money and use real estate to extort poor people. regulations don't fundamentally change that one way or the other.
- gwright 7y agoThis ("free markets are an illusion") is reductionist language that makes it difficult to communicate and understand one another. Your use of "extort" is another example of language abuse. It is hyperbolic language that serves only to distort understanding.