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The issue really is about supply and demand, right? The US has artificially limited supply through restrictive zoning. Better to fix the supply side than just

The issue really is about supply and demand, right? The US has artificially limited supply through restrictive zoning. Better to fix the supply side than just say "move to texas".

chii 5y ago
> Better to fix the supply side than just say "move to texas". but "move to texas" is a solution. The "fixing supply" hasn't worked, for a long time, so why are people lamenting that instead of making "move to texas" easier?
- chizhik-pyzhik 5y ago
  It's not that increasing the supply "hasn't worked"- we straight up don't do it at all. It's been illegal to build anything besides single-family homes in most of the USA since the ~1950s. See SF, LA, Seattle... hugely popular metro areas where most of the city can only legally be a house. Single family homes are inefficient! Compare us to Japan or China where density is legal, the difference is night and day. In addition, it's very exclusionary to tell the less well-off to move away. Why embrace exclusivity when we can build more housing?
- romwell 5y ago
  "Move to Texas" is a solution in your head, not in real life. Let's see what one needs to do to move: You need to find a job in Texas. That means in-person interview for service workers. That means also losing current job, because you need to be away from your job for interviews, and those jobs don't have vacations. So, to boot, you need: * Enough money to keep your family afloat while you're looking for a job * Money to pay for hotel while you're interviewing * Money to pay for a deposit on a new lease in Texas * Money to cover breaking the lease in your hometown * Money to go back and forth and actually move your possessions and family (several thousand dollars to either move things or sell/buy everything) Oh wait, your service job wasn't enough to provide for your family to begin with. Your spouse had to work too, and either or both of you had a "side gig", i.e. a second job to make ends meet. New task: * Have spouse find a job or two in the same area * Find a second job for yourself in Texas that works with the hours and commute for your first job * Have money to cover the deficit in the meantime Oh wait, but you also have children. How do you have kids if you're both working? * Have money to pay for childcare Haha, of course not. You can't afford that; yours and your spouse's parents were helping out. New quest: * Also move them to Texas, find places for them to live at, jobs to work at (retirement? Hahahaha), and so on. But wait! Everyone in your family has health issues, because working those jobs isn't healthy. Your job was crappy, but at least it had health insurance. * Have enough money to cover all medical expenses out of pocket while you were looking for jobs Oh, and you're still paying out loans on your vehicle that you need to get to work (and maybe a degree that didn't pan out), plus credit card debt (because you never have enough money to pay it all off) * Have enough money to cover all the debt that you have because you don't have the money to pay for things that you need to make money Too bad though, it turns out that you took a risk looking for jobs in a different city that didn't work out. The jobs in Texas that you can find are available because they don't pay enough for the locals to take them. Go figure, minimum wage in Texas is half that of your home state. Now you're out of money, out of work, without insurance, and with an employment gap what makes it harder to find work. Having lost medical care, your health issues get worse, making it harder to find work. So, what exactly should California do to make the above "move to Texas" easier?
snidane 5y ago
No, real estate suffers from inelastic supply per area. It's not a market for bananas going by basic supply/demand equalization.

The issue really is about supply and demand, right? The US has artificially limited supply through restrictive zoning. Better to fix the supply side than just say "move to texas".

chii 5y ago

> Better to fix the supply side than just say "move to texas". but "move to texas" is a solution. The "fixing supply" hasn't worked, for a long time, so why are people lamenting that instead of making "move to texas" easier?

chizhik-pyzhik 5y ago
It's not that increasing the supply "hasn't worked"- we straight up don't do it at all. It's been illegal to build anything besides single-family homes in most of the USA since the ~1950s. See SF, LA, Seattle... hugely popular metro areas where most of the city can only legally be a house. Single family homes are inefficient! Compare us to Japan or China where density is legal, the difference is night and day. In addition, it's very exclusionary to tell the less well-off to move away. Why embrace exclusivity when we can build more housing?
romwell 5y ago
"Move to Texas" is a solution in your head, not in real life. Let's see what one needs to do to move: You need to find a job in Texas. That means in-person interview for service workers. That means also losing current job, because you need to be away from your job for interviews, and those jobs don't have vacations. So, to boot, you need: * Enough money to keep your family afloat while you're looking for a job * Money to pay for hotel while you're interviewing * Money to pay for a deposit on a new lease in Texas * Money to cover breaking the lease in your hometown * Money to go back and forth and actually move your possessions and family (several thousand dollars to either move things or sell/buy everything) Oh wait, your service job wasn't enough to provide for your family to begin with. Your spouse had to work too, and either or both of you had a "side gig", i.e. a second job to make ends meet. New task: * Have spouse find a job or two in the same area * Find a second job for yourself in Texas that works with the hours and commute for your first job * Have money to cover the deficit in the meantime Oh wait, but you also have children. How do you have kids if you're both working? * Have money to pay for childcare Haha, of course not. You can't afford that; yours and your spouse's parents were helping out. New quest: * Also move them to Texas, find places for them to live at, jobs to work at (retirement? Hahahaha), and so on. But wait! Everyone in your family has health issues, because working those jobs isn't healthy. Your job was crappy, but at least it had health insurance. * Have enough money to cover all medical expenses out of pocket while you were looking for jobs Oh, and you're still paying out loans on your vehicle that you need to get to work (and maybe a degree that didn't pan out), plus credit card debt (because you never have enough money to pay it all off) * Have enough money to cover all the debt that you have because you don't have the money to pay for things that you need to make money Too bad though, it turns out that you took a risk looking for jobs in a different city that didn't work out. The jobs in Texas that you can find are available because they don't pay enough for the locals to take them. Go figure, minimum wage in Texas is half that of your home state. Now you're out of money, out of work, without insurance, and with an employment gap what makes it harder to find work. Having lost medical care, your health issues get worse, making it harder to find work. So, what exactly should California do to make the above "move to Texas" easier?

snidane 5y ago

No, real estate suffers from inelastic supply per area. It's not a market for bananas going by basic supply/demand equalization.