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Rapidly increasing the housing supply in a way that has these knock-on effects is only possible if demand already far outstrips supply. So really the problem is

Rapidly increasing the housing supply in a way that has these knock-on effects is only possible if demand already far outstrips supply. So really the problem isn't that these things will happen—it's that laws have been protecting wealthy "communities" for so long already that the whole thing is upside-down and we risk unleashing chaos simply by satisfying the demand for housing. The solution is to get our heads around the fact that people need affordable places to live, and work toward satisfying that demand as quickly as reasonably possible without completely overloading services or putting too many homeowners on the edge upside-down on their mortgages. Unfortunately, so much damage has already been done that this will not be easy, but it will only get harder as governments continue to shelter the wealthy at the expense of everybody else and local economies in general. Oh, and hand-wringing about changing demographics and culture is not helping. Change happens. Integration is necessary.

everdev 7y ago
> Oh, and hand-wringing about changing demographics and culture is not helping. Change happens. Integration is necessary. Culture matters to a lot of people. Why do you like one town versus another? Maybe the weather, maybe the jobs, but probably also because of the people, the shops, the architecture, the parks, etc. The later are all a function of culture. Some of the most unique cities are ones with a strong identity. If you take an agricultural town with lots of great festivals, open space and farm to table restaurants and basically make it an affordable housing suburb for the nearby big cities, it's not an easy win/win. You'll need to take that open space and popup some fast food restaurants to feed the demand. Something is lost culturally in that process and it's worth examining rather than saying it's inevitable or necessary.
- caconym_ 7y ago
  Culture is made of and by people, and when those people are spending four hours in their cars every day getting to and from work or working themselves to the bone with multiple jobs just to afford a place to live, you're going to have a whole lot less of it. Fetishizing yesterday's culture is a poor substitute.

everdev 7y ago

> Oh, and hand-wringing about changing demographics and culture is not helping. Change happens. Integration is necessary. Culture matters to a lot of people. Why do you like one town versus another? Maybe the weather, maybe the jobs, but probably also because of the people, the shops, the architecture, the parks, etc. The later are all a function of culture. Some of the most unique cities are ones with a strong identity. If you take an agricultural town with lots of great festivals, open space and farm to table restaurants and basically make it an affordable housing suburb for the nearby big cities, it's not an easy win/win. You'll need to take that open space and popup some fast food restaurants to feed the demand. Something is lost culturally in that process and it's worth examining rather than saying it's inevitable or necessary.

caconym_ 7y ago
Culture is made of and by people, and when those people are spending four hours in their cars every day getting to and from work or working themselves to the bone with multiple jobs just to afford a place to live, you're going to have a whole lot less of it. Fetishizing yesterday's culture is a poor substitute.