6 ms·

Build enough housing for everyone. Build more than necessary so that there's slack and flexibility to move. There's no similar monopoly dynamic with cars or pho

Build enough housing for everyone. Build more than necessary so that there's slack and flexibility to move. There's no similar monopoly dynamic with cars or phones or thousands of other goods. We just make a lot of them. Oversupply will take care of the downstream issues. They will cease to be good investments and become commodities. Rents will have to come down in a competitive market. Oversupply will have to be on a regional level. A vacant house in a small town doesn't compensate for an occupied house in a city 100km away. Zoning laws prevent this in the US/Canada in many places. Existing homeowners don't want to change. More houses means more crowding, higher traffic, construction noise, obstructed skylines, more pressure on schools, police etc. We can't accept that argument when weighed against homelessness or poverty anymore. Fuck their skylines, shelter is a basic necessity and it often has to be close to work, shopping, school etc. Living in the middle of nowhere is not an option.

pydry 4y ago
Land needs to be legally switched from an asset into a liability before the market will build housing supply with the same enthusiasm it builds phones. Land redistribution (which is structurally similar) only really tends to happen after a revolution and that tends to be bloody. Landowners throw resources at violent and politically extreme reactionaries to send off the threat of their rent entitlements being democratically revoked. So, it's unlikely to happen soon and if it does happen it'll probably get pretty ugly first. The path of least resistance will be a gradual slide into a kind of neofeudalism.
toomuchtodo 4y ago
Now convince capital to do it (because most governments won't) with very low potential returns due to oversupply. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1510262323176374278.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1510262323176374278.html https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30891217 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30891217 Great comment from the above thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30897398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30897398
- Ancalagon 4y ago
  How does Japan do this successfully?
  - endisneigh 4y ago
    Dwindling population
    - ElFitz 4y ago
      They also never stop building. And when they do stop, it’s only to tear down a building so they can build another one in it’s place.
  - StevePerkins 4y ago
    Because their population is shrinking rather than growing, and they effectively disallow immigration? Japan is a deflationary case study.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - Ancalagon 4y ago
      How does Japan do this successfully in Tokyo (which was until recently, growing in population)? https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14538387#:~:text=Tokyo's%20population%20reached%2010%20million,and%2014%20million%20in%202019 https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14538387#:~:text=Tokyo's%.... https://japanpropertycentral.com/tag/average-rent-tokyo/ https://japanpropertycentral.com/tag/average-rent-tokyo/
      - lotsofpulp 4y ago
        People are OK with leaders making decisions that result in them living in accommodations that people in the US and other western countries would deem unacceptable, mainly relating to quantity of livi by space and storage and usage of personal cars.

pydry 4y ago

Land needs to be legally switched from an asset into a liability before the market will build housing supply with the same enthusiasm it builds phones. Land redistribution (which is structurally similar) only really tends to happen after a revolution and that tends to be bloody. Landowners throw resources at violent and politically extreme reactionaries to send off the threat of their rent entitlements being democratically revoked. So, it's unlikely to happen soon and if it does happen it'll probably get pretty ugly first. The path of least resistance will be a gradual slide into a kind of neofeudalism.

toomuchtodo 4y ago

Now convince capital to do it (because most governments won't) with very low potential returns due to oversupply. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1510262323176374278.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1510262323176374278.html https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30891217 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30891217 Great comment from the above thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30897398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30897398

Ancalagon 4y ago
How does Japan do this successfully?
- endisneigh 4y ago
  Dwindling population
  - ElFitz 4y ago
    They also never stop building. And when they do stop, it’s only to tear down a building so they can build another one in it’s place.
- StevePerkins 4y ago
  Because their population is shrinking rather than growing, and they effectively disallow immigration? Japan is a deflationary case study.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - Ancalagon 4y ago
    How does Japan do this successfully in Tokyo (which was until recently, growing in population)? https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14538387#:~:text=Tokyo's%20population%20reached%2010%20million,and%2014%20million%20in%202019 https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14538387#:~:text=Tokyo's%.... https://japanpropertycentral.com/tag/average-rent-tokyo/ https://japanpropertycentral.com/tag/average-rent-tokyo/
    - lotsofpulp 4y ago
      People are OK with leaders making decisions that result in them living in accommodations that people in the US and other western countries would deem unacceptable, mainly relating to quantity of livi by space and storage and usage of personal cars.