4 ms·

"Property values" are a cop out objection. They're almost impossible to prove one way or another, but they are a dog whistle for people who object to change in

"Property values" are a cop out objection. They're almost impossible to prove one way or another, but they are a dog whistle for people who object to change in general. It's almost impossible to tell what buyers will think of any particular change to a neighbourhood, and buyers are the ones who determine property value not the owners. But owners hear "property values" and they see their nest egg evaporating away and so of course they join in the objection.

throwaway0a5e 4y ago
It makes more sense when you read it as "people values". They don't want the blue collar or lesser crowd moving in.
- jandrese 4y ago
  I originally had bit in the post about classism and racism about how people moved out to the suburbs to escape higher density housing but deleted it because I thought it would be too contentious. Plus, that's more the "crime rates" crowd, which is often thinly veiled racism.
  - RajT88 4y ago
    > Plus, that's more the "crime rates" crowd, which is often thinly veiled racism. There's a lot of that in Naperville as well. It is that kind of place.
FireBeyond 4y ago
In my city, which for the last five years has been in the top ten in the country for year-over-year increases (as a percentage), at least 10, up to 15% property value increases, a proposal, "Missing Middle" was introduced, to help increase middle-density housing availability. A study was requisitioned by the city, and found that "worst case, the effect on property value would be to reduce the -increase- over the next ten years to be 7-9% year-over-year". Holy hell, you'd have thought they were executing people's grandmothers in the streets. All of a sudden what I assumed were just people's homes were their "investment in the future" with some hitherto unknown to me guaranteed access to double digit home value increases. People who lived on dead end streets that would not have been rezoned (access to transit and arterials was a consideration) screamed that there'd be "constant traffic through their neighborhood", etc.

throwaway0a5e 4y ago

It makes more sense when you read it as "people values". They don't want the blue collar or lesser crowd moving in.

jandrese 4y ago
I originally had bit in the post about classism and racism about how people moved out to the suburbs to escape higher density housing but deleted it because I thought it would be too contentious. Plus, that's more the "crime rates" crowd, which is often thinly veiled racism.
- RajT88 4y ago
  > Plus, that's more the "crime rates" crowd, which is often thinly veiled racism. There's a lot of that in Naperville as well. It is that kind of place.

FireBeyond 4y ago

In my city, which for the last five years has been in the top ten in the country for year-over-year increases (as a percentage), at least 10, up to 15% property value increases, a proposal, "Missing Middle" was introduced, to help increase middle-density housing availability. A study was requisitioned by the city, and found that "worst case, the effect on property value would be to reduce the -increase- over the next ten years to be 7-9% year-over-year". Holy hell, you'd have thought they were executing people's grandmothers in the streets. All of a sudden what I assumed were just people's homes were their "investment in the future" with some hitherto unknown to me guaranteed access to double digit home value increases. People who lived on dead end streets that would not have been rezoned (access to transit and arterials was a consideration) screamed that there'd be "constant traffic through their neighborhood", etc.