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"nless you are willing to have affordable housing built in your neighborhood." There is no need for housing to be built in any specific location, or even densi

"nless you are willing to have affordable housing built in your neighborhood." There is no need for housing to be built in any specific location, or even density. NYC has tons of density and it jumps from poor to rich. So does London. So does Hong Kong. And it's generally 'unaffordable'. Paradoxically Texas has no density, and it's cheap. 'NIMBYISM' is mostly an issue for aspirational workers who want to live in aspirational places, but can't afford it - and that's an inherent function of the system: 'aspirational' places are exclusive. There is no escaping that. Stabilizing housing prices with rational interest rates, tweaking some zoning laws, possibly some subsidies here and there, working with industry, some state level rent control (like Ontario/Quebec it works well) etc.. FYI here are apartments in Ontario, CA, East of LA: https://www.apartments.com/ontario-ca/under-1200/?bb=-_8771t7jNxl44ptE https://www.apartments.com/ontario-ca/under-1200/?bb=-_8771t... If you want to live in Santa Monica, it's very expensive, it's not the governments job to provide you with that opportunity, it's their job to create a level playing field, to regulate smartly so that things don't get out of hand - not to make it so everyone gets to live exactly where they want.

Eric_WVGG 5y ago
Tell me more about these affordable parts of Austin, TX. You can’t just compare major cities to vast states or nations, that makes no sense.
- cbozeman 5y ago
  He said "Texas", not Austin, TX. Not sure why anyone would want to live there anyway... went there to help my nephew move in to his apartment at UT Austin four years ago. Went down there a few times to hang out with him, not fucking impressive. At all. I'll stick with Fort Worth, and Dallas if I really must. If you can't afford rent in Fort Worth, drive 20 minutes up the road to Denton. There are 800 sq. ft. apartments there for $695. At any rate, my personal taste in cities aside, here's the sad truth no one wants to confront: not everyone is going to get to live where they want in life, because not everyone is valuable enough to the economy to make enough money to live in the exclusive places. A cashier at McDonald's will never be as valuable as a developer for a startup company. It's isn't "unfair", it's a function of which adds more value to the market economy.
  - Eric_WVGG 5y ago
    I know he said "Texas", that's my point. He didn't compare NYC to posh Austin or an upscale sector of Houston, he compared it to an entire state. You could just as easily say "if the cost of living in Austin is too much for you, there are affordable places to live in New York" meaning North Tonawanda or Syracuse. Ridiculous.

Eric_WVGG 5y ago

Tell me more about these affordable parts of Austin, TX. You can’t just compare major cities to vast states or nations, that makes no sense.

cbozeman 5y ago
He said "Texas", not Austin, TX. Not sure why anyone would want to live there anyway... went there to help my nephew move in to his apartment at UT Austin four years ago. Went down there a few times to hang out with him, not fucking impressive. At all. I'll stick with Fort Worth, and Dallas if I really must. If you can't afford rent in Fort Worth, drive 20 minutes up the road to Denton. There are 800 sq. ft. apartments there for $695. At any rate, my personal taste in cities aside, here's the sad truth no one wants to confront: not everyone is going to get to live where they want in life, because not everyone is valuable enough to the economy to make enough money to live in the exclusive places. A cashier at McDonald's will never be as valuable as a developer for a startup company. It's isn't "unfair", it's a function of which adds more value to the market economy.
- Eric_WVGG 5y ago
  I know he said "Texas", that's my point. He didn't compare NYC to posh Austin or an upscale sector of Houston, he compared it to an entire state. You could just as easily say "if the cost of living in Austin is too much for you, there are affordable places to live in New York" meaning North Tonawanda or Syracuse. Ridiculous.