5 ms·

Shouldn't cities be obligated to make sure they're able to have teachers and plumbers and piano tuners?

oh_sigh 7y ago
No. If rent gets so expensive that plumbers can't afford to live there, then some plumbers will just start coming in from some cheaper area and charge customers probably an increased fee based on the trouble of getting into the city.
SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
Do cities have the power to make sure of such a thing? It's not like the mayor can just go around setting prices and wages to the level she thinks is best.
- elvinyung 7y ago
  Why not? Isn't public/social housing basically that?
  - SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
    Public housing generally does not come with a nice enough environment that teachers and plumbers will agree to live there. Maybe there’s some way to build public housing which doesn’t come with drugs and petty crime, but if there is I don’t think American cities know how to do it. The conventional wisdom is that the right way to do affordable housing is distributing it evenly among all the new complexes in the city.
Nasrudith 7y ago
I know it was rhetorical but define "obligation" and "have". Obligation in a moral sense is a matter of opinion. In the practical sense: What happens if the obligation isn't fufilled? Piano tuners are of lesser importance than teachers in terms of consequences for lacking entirely. There are alternatives for everything with their own price. Even if it is horrific like "die of rabies instead of getting vaccinated after being bit". If availability of workforce in a broader area is high but in city housing they afford is low either they need to be paid more or traffic and commute time will increase and make the job less desirable which may affect skill level and harm labor availability. Underserving is technically also an option but there will be knock on effects - if the schools are bad then parents will be more likely to relocate.
- droithomme 7y ago
  > if the schools are bad then parents will be more likely to relocate. Not all parents. Only the intelligent, cultured, and high income ones.

No. If rent gets so expensive that plumbers can't afford to live there, then some plumbers will just start coming in from some cheaper area and charge customers probably an increased fee based on the trouble of getting into the city.

SpicyLemonZest 7y ago

Do cities have the power to make sure of such a thing? It's not like the mayor can just go around setting prices and wages to the level she thinks is best.

elvinyung 7y ago
Why not? Isn't public/social housing basically that?
- SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
  Public housing generally does not come with a nice enough environment that teachers and plumbers will agree to live there. Maybe there’s some way to build public housing which doesn’t come with drugs and petty crime, but if there is I don’t think American cities know how to do it. The conventional wisdom is that the right way to do affordable housing is distributing it evenly among all the new complexes in the city.

Nasrudith 7y ago

I know it was rhetorical but define "obligation" and "have". Obligation in a moral sense is a matter of opinion. In the practical sense: What happens if the obligation isn't fufilled? Piano tuners are of lesser importance than teachers in terms of consequences for lacking entirely. There are alternatives for everything with their own price. Even if it is horrific like "die of rabies instead of getting vaccinated after being bit". If availability of workforce in a broader area is high but in city housing they afford is low either they need to be paid more or traffic and commute time will increase and make the job less desirable which may affect skill level and harm labor availability. Underserving is technically also an option but there will be knock on effects - if the schools are bad then parents will be more likely to relocate.

droithomme 7y ago
> if the schools are bad then parents will be more likely to relocate. Not all parents. Only the intelligent, cultured, and high income ones.