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Why is this a LA/California problem? New York City and all major cities have had high price housing that benefits owners for decades. What steps have Paris, Tok

Why is this a LA/California problem? New York City and all major cities have had high price housing that benefits owners for decades. What steps have Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, etc done to take their housing prices down to their national average?

jedberg 5y ago
In most of those places, zoning rules come from a state/national level. In California, the city has enormous power in zoning rules and the city council is beholden primarily to homeowners.
- likpok 5y ago
  To add on, California has CEQA that allows for any person to demand long environmental reviews. This has been abused by neighbors (along with historic preservation) to prevent development. The "historic" Mission laundromat is a classic example, as was the lawsuit against the tech shuttle system.
likpok 5y ago
Tokyo is a notable exception to that list as housing prices have stayed steady even as population grew. It did this by building an enormous number homes over the years. It's true that many cities face the same problem: by making it difficult to add new supply they make existing homes expensive. Even US cities that aren't famous for being expensive have the same problem (if at a lower scale). They lack the flood of new wealthy population but have the same lack of development.
bluGill 5y ago
NYC has high prices, but they are not nearly as high. NYC is not perfect, but it is a lot easier to build there, and thus housing is much cheaper. Housing in the middle of dense cities will always be expensive because it is a desirable place to live, but as you get out NYC starts to get affordable faster than in CA.
foofoo4u 5y ago
This article gives some insights on how other countries have addressed their housing shortages. [How to turn NIMBYs into YIMBYs](https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2021/09/11/how-to-turn-nimbys-into-yimbys https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2021/09/11/h...). This is likely just one of many other explanations as to how.

jedberg 5y ago

In most of those places, zoning rules come from a state/national level. In California, the city has enormous power in zoning rules and the city council is beholden primarily to homeowners.

likpok 5y ago
To add on, California has CEQA that allows for any person to demand long environmental reviews. This has been abused by neighbors (along with historic preservation) to prevent development. The "historic" Mission laundromat is a classic example, as was the lawsuit against the tech shuttle system.

likpok 5y ago

Tokyo is a notable exception to that list as housing prices have stayed steady even as population grew. It did this by building an enormous number homes over the years. It's true that many cities face the same problem: by making it difficult to add new supply they make existing homes expensive. Even US cities that aren't famous for being expensive have the same problem (if at a lower scale). They lack the flood of new wealthy population but have the same lack of development.

bluGill 5y ago

NYC has high prices, but they are not nearly as high. NYC is not perfect, but it is a lot easier to build there, and thus housing is much cheaper. Housing in the middle of dense cities will always be expensive because it is a desirable place to live, but as you get out NYC starts to get affordable faster than in CA.

foofoo4u 5y ago

This article gives some insights on how other countries have addressed their housing shortages. [How to turn NIMBYs into YIMBYs](https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2021/09/11/how-to-turn-nimbys-into-yimbys https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2021/09/11/h...). This is likely just one of many other explanations as to how.