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The article says you need to work 127 hours a week at minimum wage to afford a median two bedroom rent. Is just building more housing enough to close that gap e
by dyeje 7y ago
The article says you need to work 127 hours a week at minimum wage to afford a median two bedroom rent. Is just building more housing enough to close that gap especially when most housing built in the high growth, urban areas is aimed at luxury living?
- burlesona 7y agoI think people get fixated on high-density urban construction and miss the impact that is available by simply allowing the next increment of infill in the 80-90% of US urban land that is currently restricted to single family houses on large lots. If 80% of the housing units in Atlanta suddenly had the option to add a garage apartment, I would expect to see an enormous improvement in the housing market. Cases like Minneapolis, which basically just made this change, will be important to watch going forward.
- swixmix 7y agoNo, you have to get people who live nearest each other to be an organized community. Doesn't matter if it's houses, pods, or tents. Doesn't matter what type of community either.
- nine_k 7y agoTo fix that through market mechanisms, you have to create a glut of housing, so huge as to make its prices go down, at least at the low end. This would affect not only new but also of course the existing housing stock. Since a house is seen (in US) as an investment and is expected to generally appreciate, this would go very much against the "reasonable expectations" of many people.