3 ms·

The underlying issue is government preventing development of both houses and office space. If you were to build more housing in any capacity that would risk low

The underlying issue is government preventing development of both houses and office space. If you were to build more housing in any capacity that would risk lowering housing values and people (including politicians) would lose tens or even hundreds of millions in assets. This would be incredibly unpopular and won't happen anytime soon

onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
> The underlying issue is government preventing development of both houses and office space. We live in a democracy. The underlying problem of government is voters. Most home owners (especially in The Bay) refuse to allow anyone to build anything because they see that as a threat to their home value.
- tcmart14 4y ago
  This guy gets it. It is NIMBYism at work. Whether it is keeping those ugly affordable apartments out of my neighborhood or wanting the housing supply restricted so I can keep my home value at peak value.
  - woah 4y ago
    Building with no affordable units in it? Beyond the pale, the evil developers hate poor people and the units will all be bought be foreign billionaires who won't live there. Building with x% percentage affordable units in it? Not enough affordable units and the units are not affordable enough. This will not offset the gentrification caused by the market rate units. Building with high percentage of deeply affordable units in it? You can't just solve societal problems by throwing housing at it. The residents who will live in these deeply affordable units need social services to get their lives back on track. Building with 100% deeply affordable units with on site social services? You can't put a homeless shelter in our neighborhood! The honest working class residents of this neighborhood have suffered enough from gentrification without having the homeless problem dumped on them too!
- ErikVandeWater 4y ago
  > We live in a democracy. The underlying problem of government is voters. Pretty sure dictatorships have the same problem with improper zoning.
  - JumpCrisscross 4y ago
    > Pretty sure dictatorships have the same problem with improper zoning I can't find it now, but there was a study measuring the straightness of the road between capitals and their airports. The straighter the road, the more authoritarian the regime that built it.
  - treeman79 4y ago
    See China and 3 gorge dams
- Spivak 4y ago
  Unless your plan is to undermine democracy I don't see how you can really fix this. With some exception, the people who decide the rules for what is and isn't allowed to be built in an area are the people who live there. I can be mad all I want that a city/township doesn't want to provide me the kind of housing I want but it would be wrong to force them.
  - suoduandao2 4y ago
    I think it was one of the US founding fathers that said, "The primary responsibility of a democracy is the education of its citizenry". It sounds like Bay area residents are working against their own interests (home values) by reducing housing supply, thereby making their city so unlivable that home values will collapse anyway. Getting people to see the problem and vote accordingly may be difficult, but it doesn't seem completely impossible.
  - colinmhayes 4y ago
    DOesn't have to be this way. NIMBYism is a failure of hyperlocal politics where the population looks out for their own interests at the expense of everyone who wants to move there. It can be solved by higher level governments banning restrictive zoning. California has already begun that process with the mandatory duplex zoning.

onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago

> The underlying issue is government preventing development of both houses and office space. We live in a democracy. The underlying problem of government is voters. Most home owners (especially in The Bay) refuse to allow anyone to build anything because they see that as a threat to their home value.

tcmart14 4y ago
This guy gets it. It is NIMBYism at work. Whether it is keeping those ugly affordable apartments out of my neighborhood or wanting the housing supply restricted so I can keep my home value at peak value.
- woah 4y ago
  Building with no affordable units in it? Beyond the pale, the evil developers hate poor people and the units will all be bought be foreign billionaires who won't live there. Building with x% percentage affordable units in it? Not enough affordable units and the units are not affordable enough. This will not offset the gentrification caused by the market rate units. Building with high percentage of deeply affordable units in it? You can't just solve societal problems by throwing housing at it. The residents who will live in these deeply affordable units need social services to get their lives back on track. Building with 100% deeply affordable units with on site social services? You can't put a homeless shelter in our neighborhood! The honest working class residents of this neighborhood have suffered enough from gentrification without having the homeless problem dumped on them too!
ErikVandeWater 4y ago
> We live in a democracy. The underlying problem of government is voters. Pretty sure dictatorships have the same problem with improper zoning.
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago
  > Pretty sure dictatorships have the same problem with improper zoning I can't find it now, but there was a study measuring the straightness of the road between capitals and their airports. The straighter the road, the more authoritarian the regime that built it.
- treeman79 4y ago
  See China and 3 gorge dams
Spivak 4y ago
Unless your plan is to undermine democracy I don't see how you can really fix this. With some exception, the people who decide the rules for what is and isn't allowed to be built in an area are the people who live there. I can be mad all I want that a city/township doesn't want to provide me the kind of housing I want but it would be wrong to force them.
- suoduandao2 4y ago
  I think it was one of the US founding fathers that said, "The primary responsibility of a democracy is the education of its citizenry". It sounds like Bay area residents are working against their own interests (home values) by reducing housing supply, thereby making their city so unlivable that home values will collapse anyway. Getting people to see the problem and vote accordingly may be difficult, but it doesn't seem completely impossible.
- colinmhayes 4y ago
  DOesn't have to be this way. NIMBYism is a failure of hyperlocal politics where the population looks out for their own interests at the expense of everyone who wants to move there. It can be solved by higher level governments banning restrictive zoning. California has already begun that process with the mandatory duplex zoning.