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I upvoted you, but it's not black and white. The government prevents someone from opening a lead smelting plant next to a school (hopefully). They also force h

I upvoted you, but it's not black and white. The government prevents someone from opening a lead smelting plant next to a school (hopefully). They also force homes to have two exits from every room in case of fire, etc. But they also discovered manufacturing housing scarcities and _also_ making massive, lifelong loans available for housing are a GREAT way to keep your population working really hard to just barely keep a roof over their head. Want to work part time and pursue art? Want to stay home and watch your child grow up? Too bad, there's 10 more people who'll outbid you for your house, so you have to design your life around income maximization. These scarcities are created with zoning, parking minimums (maybe the most horrible part), green space (aka yard size) requirements, ridiculously large streets, density restrictions, etc. The escape is to leave the city and work remote (honestly it's amazing what having no mortgage and no rent does to your sense of agency) but that's an option open to rather few people, and probably not for long as it becomes normalized and wages adjust as a result.

exabrial 7y ago
Yep. There's a difference between my example and proper fire exits. I didn't capture that in my original post, but I fully agree. Unfortunately the power to regulate these things has been abused to keep the poor out of housing permanently.
kljoiutr 7y ago
> They also force homes to have two exits from every room in case of fire, etc. That can't be true? That makes 90% of existing homes illegal to build again.
- blhack 7y ago
  A window that can be opened is considered an exit.
- astura 7y ago
  This just means sleeping areas require a window
- CydeWeys 7y ago
  It's not true, but not for this reason. 100% of old enough buildings couldn't be built again in exactly the same way. Codes evolve over time.
  - CalRobert 7y ago
    Why isn't it true? My understanding was rooms where people are likely to sleep require two means of exit (e.g. door and a window).
postingTwoFast 7y ago
> manufacturing housing scarcities ... are a GREAT way to keep your population working really hard to just barely keep a roof over their head. This guy gets it. The urbanists' hearts are in the right place, but in the end they're getting used. The only way to win is not to play. Source: bought a rural foreclosure and licensed wholesale dark fiber from the electric utility. My internet bill is ten times my property tax bill and it's worth it.
- CalRobert 7y ago
  Urbanism works except we need to address a century of pent up demand and every time someone says "well you're just building for the rich" but the whole point is that it's to scarce so obviously only the rich can afford the first nice homes to be built in a century! But yeah, houses are cheap. Very nice log cabin style ones (manufactured parts, assembled on site) can be sub 100k. In a scarcity house prices rise to match the debt available. Incidentally, if you like a project look for houses no bank will lend on.

exabrial 7y ago

Yep. There's a difference between my example and proper fire exits. I didn't capture that in my original post, but I fully agree. Unfortunately the power to regulate these things has been abused to keep the poor out of housing permanently.

kljoiutr 7y ago

> They also force homes to have two exits from every room in case of fire, etc. That can't be true? That makes 90% of existing homes illegal to build again.

blhack 7y ago
A window that can be opened is considered an exit.
astura 7y ago
This just means sleeping areas require a window
CydeWeys 7y ago
It's not true, but not for this reason. 100% of old enough buildings couldn't be built again in exactly the same way. Codes evolve over time.
- CalRobert 7y ago
  Why isn't it true? My understanding was rooms where people are likely to sleep require two means of exit (e.g. door and a window).

postingTwoFast 7y ago

> manufacturing housing scarcities ... are a GREAT way to keep your population working really hard to just barely keep a roof over their head. This guy gets it. The urbanists' hearts are in the right place, but in the end they're getting used. The only way to win is not to play. Source: bought a rural foreclosure and licensed wholesale dark fiber from the electric utility. My internet bill is ten times my property tax bill and it's worth it.

CalRobert 7y ago
Urbanism works except we need to address a century of pent up demand and every time someone says "well you're just building for the rich" but the whole point is that it's to scarce so obviously only the rich can afford the first nice homes to be built in a century! But yeah, houses are cheap. Very nice log cabin style ones (manufactured parts, assembled on site) can be sub 100k. In a scarcity house prices rise to match the debt available. Incidentally, if you like a project look for houses no bank will lend on.