4 ms·

Surprised there aren’t more comments here. This is great news for affordable housing right?

commoner 5y ago
There was some discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28559517 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28559517
aresant 5y ago
SB9 is highly politicized, I'd assume a little much for Sat night for most of us haha :) I imagine if this wound up higher on the page it would be flagged out
nixpulvis 5y ago
The rush to comment while relevant is getting out of hand frankly. Some things require actual research. EDIT: However, I have some personal experience in single family zoned housing in the Bay Area, but I would really need to read up on the proposed changes first... That said, I can say I felt very out of place and wish I had found a better, smaller place to live, for less. Meanwhile, my first apt in SF was clearly built in a rush, the light switches were leaking, and homeless people would shoot up by the door. All for just over $3k/mo. No thanks.
- ehutch79 5y ago
  I'm just assuming you meant $3k/month
  - nixpulvis 5y ago
    ROFL, yes. Fixed
throwaway27281 5y ago
Affordable housing (or rather the zoning changes needed to realize it) is not always a popular topic on this site.
- foxpurple 5y ago
  It’s not surprising when people earning $200k aren’t so enthusiastic when the rest of the population gets the chance to buy a house. Honestly the lack of empathy from people here is a little gross.
colechristensen 5y ago
Has there ever been an effort of freeing up high density construction that resulted in lower housing prices? In the places I lived, new construction of big apartment complexes was correlated with prices going up. The new buildings charged more for rent, people paid it, and the surrounding housing followed.
- fighterpilot 5y ago
  Zoning laws are responsible for higher prices: https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2018/pdf/rdp2018-03.pdf https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2018/pdf/rdp2018-03.... The mechanism is clear cut. Restrict supply, price goes up. There's quite a bit of empirical support as well. I don't doubt what you've observed but I think it needs to be addressed rigorously.
  - colechristensen 5y ago
    All i’ve seen so far is people explaining their preferred reasons for why things happen and their guesses for what new policy will do. What I haven’t seen is a case study or anecdote of something actually resulting in lower prices. (besides tech busts and covid in SF)
    - fighterpilot 5y ago
      There's lots of evidence and many studies that show that zoning causes high real estate prices. I don't think it's fair to say it's merely a preferred reason. Here's one of many: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3507803 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3507803 The bar that you're asking for is too high. Relaxing zoning laws in a specific locale shouldn't lead to lower prices necessarily. It should lead to a smaller price increase than what would have otherwise occurred due to supply still being restricted elsewhere and the relative fungibility of low to mid income housing. But I agree that it would be good to see an event study of a natural experiment in addition to the correlational studies. However given the existing evidence we have, as well as the underlying economic logic, we shouldn't pretend as though there's no basis for bringing up zoning as a major cause of high real estate prices.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

There was some discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28559517 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28559517

aresant 5y ago

SB9 is highly politicized, I'd assume a little much for Sat night for most of us haha :) I imagine if this wound up higher on the page it would be flagged out

nixpulvis 5y ago

The rush to comment while relevant is getting out of hand frankly. Some things require actual research. EDIT: However, I have some personal experience in single family zoned housing in the Bay Area, but I would really need to read up on the proposed changes first... That said, I can say I felt very out of place and wish I had found a better, smaller place to live, for less. Meanwhile, my first apt in SF was clearly built in a rush, the light switches were leaking, and homeless people would shoot up by the door. All for just over $3k/mo. No thanks.

ehutch79 5y ago
I'm just assuming you meant $3k/month
- nixpulvis 5y ago
  ROFL, yes. Fixed

throwaway27281 5y ago

Affordable housing (or rather the zoning changes needed to realize it) is not always a popular topic on this site.

foxpurple 5y ago
It’s not surprising when people earning $200k aren’t so enthusiastic when the rest of the population gets the chance to buy a house. Honestly the lack of empathy from people here is a little gross.

colechristensen 5y ago

Has there ever been an effort of freeing up high density construction that resulted in lower housing prices? In the places I lived, new construction of big apartment complexes was correlated with prices going up. The new buildings charged more for rent, people paid it, and the surrounding housing followed.

fighterpilot 5y ago
Zoning laws are responsible for higher prices: https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2018/pdf/rdp2018-03.pdf https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2018/pdf/rdp2018-03.... The mechanism is clear cut. Restrict supply, price goes up. There's quite a bit of empirical support as well. I don't doubt what you've observed but I think it needs to be addressed rigorously.
- colechristensen 5y ago
  All i’ve seen so far is people explaining their preferred reasons for why things happen and their guesses for what new policy will do. What I haven’t seen is a case study or anecdote of something actually resulting in lower prices. (besides tech busts and covid in SF)
  - fighterpilot 5y ago
    There's lots of evidence and many studies that show that zoning causes high real estate prices. I don't think it's fair to say it's merely a preferred reason. Here's one of many: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3507803 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3507803 The bar that you're asking for is too high. Relaxing zoning laws in a specific locale shouldn't lead to lower prices necessarily. It should lead to a smaller price increase than what would have otherwise occurred due to supply still being restricted elsewhere and the relative fungibility of low to mid income housing. But I agree that it would be good to see an event study of a natural experiment in addition to the correlational studies. However given the existing evidence we have, as well as the underlying economic logic, we shouldn't pretend as though there's no basis for bringing up zoning as a major cause of high real estate prices.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]