This is the answer, and it's kind of amazing the strange contortions people go through to not admit it. Regulation is a tax. Review requirements are a tax. NIMB

This is the answer, and it's kind of amazing the strange contortions people go through to not admit it. Regulation is a tax. Review requirements are a tax. NIMBY opposition is a tax. Complex irregular permitting requirements are a tax. All those taxes must be paid up front by the developer, so obviously developers are only ever going to build high-margin high-income housing. They'd probably lose money on anything else.