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> Housing in Silicon valley doesn't grow at the same rate as number of people coming here Bingo. And why not?

by zamfi 7y ago

inferiorhuman 7y ago
Bingo. And why not? Because California property owners don't want it to. The artificial scarcity drives up property values. Take a look at Brisbane, they fought residential development tooth and nail claiming that people should just work in Brisbane but live in San Francisco.
- KibbutzDalia 7y ago
  Not true. We have a house and commercial rental property in Sunnyvale California. I’d love to tear down my commercial building and build something with an additional story but zoning won’t allow it. And is welcome all single family zoning being upgraded to 2 family zoning. I’d build a second unit in a heartbeat.
aswanson 7y ago
Existing homeowners don't want their living space turned into downtown Manhattan because there's a temporary exorbitant demand for ad click optimization and pic sharing networks.
- zamfi 7y ago
  There's a whole spectrum between single family homes and "Manhattan". It's not a binary! The Bay Area's population has grown by 8.5% in the last 10 years. [0] Please, that's not "Manhattan". That's one person on your block converting their garage into a rentable unit. Those "existing homeowners" are really messing things up for everyone because they don't want Bob to turn his garage into a rental? Somehow I think there's more to it than that. [0]: https://www.kqed.org/news/11741275/map-the-bay-area-leads-california-in-population-growth https://www.kqed.org/news/11741275/map-the-bay-area-leads-ca...
  - pacala 7y ago
    Full quote: The population of the nine-county region grew by over 600,000 people since 2010 — a nearly 8.5% increase — outpacing the growth rate in any other part of California, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Thursday. 600k people is about as much as Seattle proper. Which happens to span 83.94 sq mi. In less than 10 years. That's _a lot_ of construction.
    - zamfi 7y ago
      Huh? 600,000 people in the Bay Area's 7,000 square miles -- I don't see how the Seattle comparison of "83.94" square miles is related. No residential neighborhood in the Bay Area needs to turn into "Manhattan" to house 600,000 extra people. If every block added a house we'd have extra housing to spare. Zoning prevents a ton of development, and everyone pretends they're fighting "Manhattan". At Manhattan densities, the Bay Area would house 468 million people. That's not what's happening, and no one is advocating for that. We don't need to build Seattle in the Bay to house everyone. We just need cities to stop dragging permits out years and every planning committee to stop saying "no" to any small increases in density. How much construction it is isn't super relevant -- if it's profitable, it will happen!
- fountainofage 7y ago
  Then they shouldn't vote in the office space?
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  Unfortunately for you San Francisco hasn't been a sleepy little fishing village for nearly 200 years. Its popularity isn't a temporary trend. Of course I wouldn't mind becoming more like Manhattan in some ways. Compared to how pedestrian hostile the Bay Area is, Manhattan is heaven.

> Housing in Silicon valley doesn't grow at the same rate as number of people coming here Bingo. And why not?

by zamfi 7y ago

> Housing in Silicon valley doesn't grow at the same rate as number of people coming here Bingo. And why not?

Bingo. And why not? Because California property owners don't want it to. The artificial scarcity drives up property values. Take a look at Brisbane, they fought residential development tooth and nail claiming that people should just work in Brisbane but live in San Francisco.

KibbutzDalia 7y ago
Not true. We have a house and commercial rental property in Sunnyvale California. I’d love to tear down my commercial building and build something with an additional story but zoning won’t allow it. And is welcome all single family zoning being upgraded to 2 family zoning. I’d build a second unit in a heartbeat.

aswanson 7y ago

Existing homeowners don't want their living space turned into downtown Manhattan because there's a temporary exorbitant demand for ad click optimization and pic sharing networks.

zamfi 7y ago
There's a whole spectrum between single family homes and "Manhattan". It's not a binary! The Bay Area's population has grown by 8.5% in the last 10 years. [0] Please, that's not "Manhattan". That's one person on your block converting their garage into a rentable unit. Those "existing homeowners" are really messing things up for everyone because they don't want Bob to turn his garage into a rental? Somehow I think there's more to it than that. [0]: https://www.kqed.org/news/11741275/map-the-bay-area-leads-california-in-population-growth https://www.kqed.org/news/11741275/map-the-bay-area-leads-ca...
- pacala 7y ago
  Full quote: The population of the nine-county region grew by over 600,000 people since 2010 — a nearly 8.5% increase — outpacing the growth rate in any other part of California, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Thursday. 600k people is about as much as Seattle proper. Which happens to span 83.94 sq mi. In less than 10 years. That's _a lot_ of construction.
  - zamfi 7y ago
    Huh? 600,000 people in the Bay Area's 7,000 square miles -- I don't see how the Seattle comparison of "83.94" square miles is related. No residential neighborhood in the Bay Area needs to turn into "Manhattan" to house 600,000 extra people. If every block added a house we'd have extra housing to spare. Zoning prevents a ton of development, and everyone pretends they're fighting "Manhattan". At Manhattan densities, the Bay Area would house 468 million people. That's not what's happening, and no one is advocating for that. We don't need to build Seattle in the Bay to house everyone. We just need cities to stop dragging permits out years and every planning committee to stop saying "no" to any small increases in density. How much construction it is isn't super relevant -- if it's profitable, it will happen!
fountainofage 7y ago
Then they shouldn't vote in the office space?
inferiorhuman 7y ago
Unfortunately for you San Francisco hasn't been a sleepy little fishing village for nearly 200 years. Its popularity isn't a temporary trend. Of course I wouldn't mind becoming more like Manhattan in some ways. Compared to how pedestrian hostile the Bay Area is, Manhattan is heaven.