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How much extra housing would have to be built to reduce housing costs to the point that all people experiencing homelessness can afford them? Thinking you can b

How much extra housing would have to be built to reduce housing costs to the point that all people experiencing homelessness can afford them? Thinking you can build your way out of this housing crisis is the definition of insanity. So long as homes are commodities, people will be homeless and wealthy people will own a multiple of the number of houses that they need. In a society with decommodified housing, some amount of housing will need to be built to keep up with local immigration. That is massively below the amount that would need to be built to try to prod second-order market effects to do what we want.

pcwalton 7y ago
> How much extra housing would have to be built to reduce housing costs to the point that all people experiencing homelessness can afford them? We don't need all people experiencing homelessness to be able to afford market-rate housing. That's what subsidized affordable housing is for. If market rate housing were much cheaper, though, many people who are homeless would be able to afford market-rate housing, and then the scarce affordable housing dollars that we have would be sufficient to cover the rest. > Thinking you can build your way out of this housing crisis is the definition of insanity. No, it's what cities that don't have housing crises like Houston do. Objectively, Houston is doing everything better than San Francisco when it comes to housing. What do they do? Allow a lot more building, with less red tape and restrictive zoning. San Franciscans need to take a long hard look at what cities like Chicago and Dallas are doing when it comes to housing, and have the humility to recognize that their policies have failed and that they must change. I say this as a San Franciscan who's proud of his city in a lot of other ways. > In a society with decommodified housing, some amount of housing will need to be built to keep up with local immigration. That is massively below the amount that would need to be built to try to prod second-order market effects to do what we want. That doesn't make sense to me. Demand is demand; you need a lot of housing no matter what. Unless you try to curb that demand by instituting a hukou system (which a lot of Californians seem to want to do).

pcwalton 7y ago

> How much extra housing would have to be built to reduce housing costs to the point that all people experiencing homelessness can afford them? We don't need all people experiencing homelessness to be able to afford market-rate housing. That's what subsidized affordable housing is for. If market rate housing were much cheaper, though, many people who are homeless would be able to afford market-rate housing, and then the scarce affordable housing dollars that we have would be sufficient to cover the rest. > Thinking you can build your way out of this housing crisis is the definition of insanity. No, it's what cities that don't have housing crises like Houston do. Objectively, Houston is doing everything better than San Francisco when it comes to housing. What do they do? Allow a lot more building, with less red tape and restrictive zoning. San Franciscans need to take a long hard look at what cities like Chicago and Dallas are doing when it comes to housing, and have the humility to recognize that their policies have failed and that they must change. I say this as a San Franciscan who's proud of his city in a lot of other ways. > In a society with decommodified housing, some amount of housing will need to be built to keep up with local immigration. That is massively below the amount that would need to be built to try to prod second-order market effects to do what we want. That doesn't make sense to me. Demand is demand; you need a lot of housing no matter what. Unless you try to curb that demand by instituting a hukou system (which a lot of Californians seem to want to do).