Oh god, the rent! Thanks for the reminder. I wonder when we will cross the post-scarcity point on housing. Considering that about 50% of my monthly expenses go

Oh god, the rent! Thanks for the reminder. I wonder when we will cross the post-scarcity point on housing. Considering that about 50% of my monthly expenses goes to rent, I think reducing the cost of housing is where most of my mental energies should be devoted. My partial solution is "Commodity Housing", i.e., housing so abundant that what you pay is close to the maintainance costs, which I estimate would be on the order of $50-60/month (excluding electric/gas, water/sewage and garbage disposal expenses which most of us already pay for separately). I can't seem to figure out why, when there is so much land in the U.S. [1], the rents are still so crushingly high [2]? I only have a partial answer in rent controls [3] and zoning laws. [1] http://persquaremile.com/2011/01/18/if-the-worlds-population-lived-in-one-city/ http://persquaremile.com/2011/01/18/if-the-worlds-population... [2] http://shine.yahoo.com/green/simple-life-in-manhattan-a-90-square-foot-home-2472666.html http://shine.yahoo.com/green/simple-life-in-manhattan-a-90-s... http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance/article-113345-10728-1-how-do-your-finances-stack-up?ywaad=ad0035&nc http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance/article-113345-10728... [3] http://www.baycitizen.org/columns/elizabeth-lesly-stevens/small-time-landlord-vs-big-time-tenants/ http://www.baycitizen.org/columns/elizabeth-lesly-stevens/sm... @pnathan: I reposted this above, hoping it gets more visibility. Once again thanks for the rent reminder.