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The author seems to be arguing that each additional unit of new housing draws in an additional laborer. The professional worker brings personal equity to the ci

The author seems to be arguing that each additional unit of new housing draws in an additional laborer. The professional worker brings personal equity to the city as an investment into the housing market. Their presence improves the local professional market and increases demand for housing. This attracts another worker. The demand for the housing increases while unsatiated by the original increase in supply. It's a situation where the means of dealing with supply will lead to an increase in demand. Although, based on this, I think low income housing would have a more positive impact than going nuts with high end developments.

wmil 7y ago
The problem is that you can't actually build low income housing in a tight market. All housing is desirable when there's a severe shortage like we're seeing in Toronto and other cities where new construction is being limited. So the cities usually respond to this by trying to apply criteria to who's allowed to use the new housing. It's inevitably managed in a crooked fashion. So the children and mistresses of city councilors get cheap housing and the working middle class get screwed.
- foota 7y ago
  Citation? Otherwise this seems like a straw person. Even if a few people get cheap housing there's still lots more.
  - sudosteph 7y ago
    In the Seattle-area there was recently a story about some people doing exactly that with an affordable condo program: https://www.king5.com/article/news/more-owners-of-affordable-housing-units-in-king-county-may-be-abusing-rules/281-8d1dba3b-742a-4eb7-8653-6ec3b1f3c4d3 https://www.king5.com/article/news/more-owners-of-affordable... And anecdotally I had to listen to a guy brag about qualifying for an income-reduced rental for a Seattle apartment complex by not reporting his tips at his waiting job. So it definitely does happen, especially in tight markets where having a cheap place can bring big AirBnN money. But there are many people, especially the elderly and those with disabilities who benefit greatly from these same places available, so while I'm angered about those who abuse the system and don't think we can ignore those issues, I don't think income restricted housing should be abandoned wholesale. The penalties for abusing it should be extremely high though.

wmil 7y ago

The problem is that you can't actually build low income housing in a tight market. All housing is desirable when there's a severe shortage like we're seeing in Toronto and other cities where new construction is being limited. So the cities usually respond to this by trying to apply criteria to who's allowed to use the new housing. It's inevitably managed in a crooked fashion. So the children and mistresses of city councilors get cheap housing and the working middle class get screwed.

foota 7y ago
Citation? Otherwise this seems like a straw person. Even if a few people get cheap housing there's still lots more.
- sudosteph 7y ago
  In the Seattle-area there was recently a story about some people doing exactly that with an affordable condo program: https://www.king5.com/article/news/more-owners-of-affordable-housing-units-in-king-county-may-be-abusing-rules/281-8d1dba3b-742a-4eb7-8653-6ec3b1f3c4d3 https://www.king5.com/article/news/more-owners-of-affordable... And anecdotally I had to listen to a guy brag about qualifying for an income-reduced rental for a Seattle apartment complex by not reporting his tips at his waiting job. So it definitely does happen, especially in tight markets where having a cheap place can bring big AirBnN money. But there are many people, especially the elderly and those with disabilities who benefit greatly from these same places available, so while I'm angered about those who abuse the system and don't think we can ignore those issues, I don't think income restricted housing should be abandoned wholesale. The penalties for abusing it should be extremely high though.