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If we only had a technology that could be used to build more housing units on a given plot of land, we could probably build as many housing units as people want

If we only had a technology that could be used to build more housing units on a given plot of land, we could probably build as many housing units as people want to buy. Until such technologies emerge from the land of science fiction, we'll be stuck with shortages, because the problems are really technical, not legal. https://www.vox.com/a/new-economy-future/urban-sprawl-housing-costs-solutions-elevators https://www.vox.com/a/new-economy-future/urban-sprawl-housin...

carapace 7y ago
Bucky fuller, Dymaxion House, circa 1930: > The Dymaxion House was developed by inventor and architect Buckminster Fuller to address several perceived shortcomings with existing homebuilding techniques. Fuller designed several versions of the house at different times — all of them factory manufactured kits, assembled on site, intended to be suitable for any site or environment and to use resources efficiently. A key design consideration of the design was ease of shipment and assembly. ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_house https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_house Nearly a century later... "Prefab housing complex for UC Berkeley students goes up in four days" Aug., 2018 ~ https://www.berkeleyside.com/2018/08/02/prefab-housing-complex-for-uc-berkeley-students-built-in-four-days https://www.berkeleyside.com/2018/08/02/prefab-housing-compl... An interesting detail: "Kennedy notes that the cost of trucking to Berkeley from the port of Oakland was more expensive than the cost of shipping from Hong Kong."
mistermann 7y ago
A housing bubble based on domestic demand is dangerous enough, adding in who knows how much foreign demand on top of that, if it was to pop it could be more than doubly impactful. Before we go on a building spree, I say we should get a decent handle on the total amount of foreign money in play.
- wharnal 7y ago
  You're right, it'd be a real tragedy if they built too many homes and just anyone could afford to live in Vancouver.
  - mistermann 7y ago
    In the long run it may be fine. In the short run, crashing housing bubbles can bankrupt families and cause chaos in both financial and job markets.
dghughes 7y ago
Apartment buildings are being slapped together quickly now with cheap materials. Fast isn't good if the result is a house of cards that's ready to fall down at any time. A three story apartment building in my town burned down because the decorative mulch outside caught fire and spread to the building. Making it worse sprinkler systems are not mandatory in Canada for three story apartment buildings. Luckily all 52 seniors living in the apartment building got out there were no deaths. The fire chief said the building went up fast because of the materials used in the building. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-fire-cause-10-harley-2019-1.5216847 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-fire...
NonEUCitizen 7y ago
Technology for "more housing units on a given plot of land" is in widespread use Hongkong, Singapore, Shenzhen, Seoul, and many other parts of Asia. It's even used in parts of the USA like NYC.
Tiktaalik 7y ago
Perhaps this sort of sarcastic comment would make sense if we're talking about SF which doesn't build, but we're talking about Vancouver, which actually builds quite a bit of housing, and is currently building multi-unit housing at unprecedented levels not seen in the last 30 years. The big problem of course that there are real physical limits to the rate of housing development where people have to touch the process eg. inspections, design, labour limits and so 'just add more supply' isn't really a solution when the limited supply you can build are for-sale condos literally being directly marketed overseas and out of the grasp of locals with mere local incomes (Vancouver has pretty much the lowest median income of major Canadian cities).
- jseliger 7y ago
  Do you know anything about supply and demand, or Vancouver, at all? Much of the city is still zoned for single-family only: https://www.thestar.com/vancouver/2019/01/01/2019-could-be-the-year-vancouver-gets-rid-of-single-family-zoning.html https://www.thestar.com/vancouver/2019/01/01/2019-could-be-t.... To call this madness is an understatement.
  - Tiktaalik 7y ago
    Yeah the remaining single family (actually duplex now) zoning hasn't been a restriction on development. In the last several years the City of Vancouver took significant parcels of that SFH area such as Cambie, Marpole, and Norquay and up zoned it to allow for high rise and mid rise residential. Like I said, Vancouver isn't SF. Even with areas of the city untouched by redevelopment, there's still thousands upon thousands of units in the pipeline being developed in the areas the city has up zoned over the last 10 years. That's just the CoV proper, never mind the huge amounts of development next door in all the surrounding cities. On top of this, Metro Vancouver is still a young enough that there's massive areas of untouched brownfield and greenfield that are being redeveloped as well, such as Jericho, NEFC and the Squamish lands around Vanier Park.

carapace 7y ago

Bucky fuller, Dymaxion House, circa 1930: > The Dymaxion House was developed by inventor and architect Buckminster Fuller to address several perceived shortcomings with existing homebuilding techniques. Fuller designed several versions of the house at different times — all of them factory manufactured kits, assembled on site, intended to be suitable for any site or environment and to use resources efficiently. A key design consideration of the design was ease of shipment and assembly. ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_house https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_house Nearly a century later... "Prefab housing complex for UC Berkeley students goes up in four days" Aug., 2018 ~ https://www.berkeleyside.com/2018/08/02/prefab-housing-complex-for-uc-berkeley-students-built-in-four-days https://www.berkeleyside.com/2018/08/02/prefab-housing-compl... An interesting detail: "Kennedy notes that the cost of trucking to Berkeley from the port of Oakland was more expensive than the cost of shipping from Hong Kong."

mistermann 7y ago

A housing bubble based on domestic demand is dangerous enough, adding in who knows how much foreign demand on top of that, if it was to pop it could be more than doubly impactful. Before we go on a building spree, I say we should get a decent handle on the total amount of foreign money in play.

wharnal 7y ago
You're right, it'd be a real tragedy if they built too many homes and just anyone could afford to live in Vancouver.
- mistermann 7y ago
  In the long run it may be fine. In the short run, crashing housing bubbles can bankrupt families and cause chaos in both financial and job markets.

dghughes 7y ago

Apartment buildings are being slapped together quickly now with cheap materials. Fast isn't good if the result is a house of cards that's ready to fall down at any time. A three story apartment building in my town burned down because the decorative mulch outside caught fire and spread to the building. Making it worse sprinkler systems are not mandatory in Canada for three story apartment buildings. Luckily all 52 seniors living in the apartment building got out there were no deaths. The fire chief said the building went up fast because of the materials used in the building. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-fire-cause-10-harley-2019-1.5216847 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-fire...

NonEUCitizen 7y ago

Technology for "more housing units on a given plot of land" is in widespread use Hongkong, Singapore, Shenzhen, Seoul, and many other parts of Asia. It's even used in parts of the USA like NYC.

Tiktaalik 7y ago

Perhaps this sort of sarcastic comment would make sense if we're talking about SF which doesn't build, but we're talking about Vancouver, which actually builds quite a bit of housing, and is currently building multi-unit housing at unprecedented levels not seen in the last 30 years. The big problem of course that there are real physical limits to the rate of housing development where people have to touch the process eg. inspections, design, labour limits and so 'just add more supply' isn't really a solution when the limited supply you can build are for-sale condos literally being directly marketed overseas and out of the grasp of locals with mere local incomes (Vancouver has pretty much the lowest median income of major Canadian cities).

jseliger 7y ago
Do you know anything about supply and demand, or Vancouver, at all? Much of the city is still zoned for single-family only: https://www.thestar.com/vancouver/2019/01/01/2019-could-be-the-year-vancouver-gets-rid-of-single-family-zoning.html https://www.thestar.com/vancouver/2019/01/01/2019-could-be-t.... To call this madness is an understatement.
- Tiktaalik 7y ago
  Yeah the remaining single family (actually duplex now) zoning hasn't been a restriction on development. In the last several years the City of Vancouver took significant parcels of that SFH area such as Cambie, Marpole, and Norquay and up zoned it to allow for high rise and mid rise residential. Like I said, Vancouver isn't SF. Even with areas of the city untouched by redevelopment, there's still thousands upon thousands of units in the pipeline being developed in the areas the city has up zoned over the last 10 years. That's just the CoV proper, never mind the huge amounts of development next door in all the surrounding cities. On top of this, Metro Vancouver is still a young enough that there's massive areas of untouched brownfield and greenfield that are being redeveloped as well, such as Jericho, NEFC and the Squamish lands around Vanier Park.