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The nuance is that with restrictions on property tax there is absolutely no disincentive for citizens to support local policies that restrict housing developmen

by alexb_ 3y ago

The nuance is that with restrictions on property tax there is absolutely no disincentive for citizens to support local policies that restrict housing development. You are incentivized to keep the housing supply as low as you can possibly get it, because raising the price of your own property has zero downsides. This creates homelessness due to a restricted supply of housing.

Dig1t 3y ago
>support local policies that restrict housing development You are absolutely correct that this is the problem. But the solution is not to disincentivize home ownership with a tax, it is to fix zoning itself. Homeowners will still have an incentive to restrict housing supply even with a tax. However if you restricted the power of local zoning boards to tell people what they are allowed to build on their own land, then you would fix the housing crisis virtually overnight. There is a strong incentive for developers to build as densely as possible because they can make more money per acre, but the problem is that local zoning boards stop most development. https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2023/02/01/atherton-guts-most-of-multifamily-housing-from-plan-its-sending-to-state https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2023/02/01/atherton-guts-mo... >The council removed multifamily housing plans that were met with ire by residents, and softened changes to a lot on Oakwood Boulevard in Golden State Warriors' star Steph Curry's neighborhood ^ that is just one of a million examples of what I'm talking about. This has been going on for decades and the housing crisis we have now is the result.
- alexb_ 3y ago
  Asking to change policy without changing the incentives that led to said policy is a fool's errand. You have to change what people are incentivized to do to actually change anything because people respond to incentives, not ideas. The way you fix zoning itself is by incentivizing people do to so. Plus, that's not the only supply problem that comes from Prop 13. People don't want to ever sell their houses because that means their property tax will be reassessed when they move. That's another huge problem caused by Prop 13.
  - Dig1t 3y ago
    I completely agree with you about incentives. I'm saying there is already an incentive to build densely, developers already want to do this because they make more money by doing so. They are literally not allowed to build anything other than single family homes though, the local homeowners actually control what is allowed to be built. That is to say: the people who have an incentive to keep housing supply low are the ones deciding what is allowed to be constructed in their town. If I go buy a piece of land in Cupertino and I want to build an apartment complex, I have to go apply for permits and get approval from the city of Cupertino zoning board. The people on that board are all people who live in Cupertino that own single family homes, they have a strong incentive to deny my application if I am building my apartment complex anywhere near their neighborhood. Basically every single city in California has zoning laws that prohibit you from building anything other than suburban single family homes in most of the town. What I'm saying is that you can fix the housing crisis by passing a law that limits the power of the zoning board to deny permits for these types of housing. Take a look at the Cupertino zoning map: https://map.gridics.com/us/ca/cupertino#11.67/37.3159/-122.033/0/45 https://map.gridics.com/us/ca/cupertino#11.67/37.3159/-122.0... if you click layers -> planning -> zoning you can see an overlay of the zoning for the whole city. The light beige color is "single family" zoned, meaning that nobody is allowed to build anything other than low-density homes. Notice how _most_ of the city is designated "single family". This is the cause of the entire problem. Nobody is allowed to build anything more dense than the single family homes that are already there. Not-so-coincidentally, Cupertino is one of the most expensive places to live in the US. Look at Houston, TX. They have no zoning laws (it's not perfect they still have deed restrictions which sometimes act similarly to zoning laws), and it is a massive city. The median house price is ~340k, something that most normal people can afford. There is a clear correlation between reduced zoning restrictions and lower housing costs.

by alexb_ 3y ago

Dig1t 3y ago

>support local policies that restrict housing development You are absolutely correct that this is the problem. But the solution is not to disincentivize home ownership with a tax, it is to fix zoning itself. Homeowners will still have an incentive to restrict housing supply even with a tax. However if you restricted the power of local zoning boards to tell people what they are allowed to build on their own land, then you would fix the housing crisis virtually overnight. There is a strong incentive for developers to build as densely as possible because they can make more money per acre, but the problem is that local zoning boards stop most development. https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2023/02/01/atherton-guts-most-of-multifamily-housing-from-plan-its-sending-to-state https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2023/02/01/atherton-guts-mo... >The council removed multifamily housing plans that were met with ire by residents, and softened changes to a lot on Oakwood Boulevard in Golden State Warriors' star Steph Curry's neighborhood ^ that is just one of a million examples of what I'm talking about. This has been going on for decades and the housing crisis we have now is the result.

alexb_ 3y ago
Asking to change policy without changing the incentives that led to said policy is a fool's errand. You have to change what people are incentivized to do to actually change anything because people respond to incentives, not ideas. The way you fix zoning itself is by incentivizing people do to so. Plus, that's not the only supply problem that comes from Prop 13. People don't want to ever sell their houses because that means their property tax will be reassessed when they move. That's another huge problem caused by Prop 13.
- Dig1t 3y ago
  I completely agree with you about incentives. I'm saying there is already an incentive to build densely, developers already want to do this because they make more money by doing so. They are literally not allowed to build anything other than single family homes though, the local homeowners actually control what is allowed to be built. That is to say: the people who have an incentive to keep housing supply low are the ones deciding what is allowed to be constructed in their town. If I go buy a piece of land in Cupertino and I want to build an apartment complex, I have to go apply for permits and get approval from the city of Cupertino zoning board. The people on that board are all people who live in Cupertino that own single family homes, they have a strong incentive to deny my application if I am building my apartment complex anywhere near their neighborhood. Basically every single city in California has zoning laws that prohibit you from building anything other than suburban single family homes in most of the town. What I'm saying is that you can fix the housing crisis by passing a law that limits the power of the zoning board to deny permits for these types of housing. Take a look at the Cupertino zoning map: https://map.gridics.com/us/ca/cupertino#11.67/37.3159/-122.033/0/45 https://map.gridics.com/us/ca/cupertino#11.67/37.3159/-122.0... if you click layers -> planning -> zoning you can see an overlay of the zoning for the whole city. The light beige color is "single family" zoned, meaning that nobody is allowed to build anything other than low-density homes. Notice how _most_ of the city is designated "single family". This is the cause of the entire problem. Nobody is allowed to build anything more dense than the single family homes that are already there. Not-so-coincidentally, Cupertino is one of the most expensive places to live in the US. Look at Houston, TX. They have no zoning laws (it's not perfect they still have deed restrictions which sometimes act similarly to zoning laws), and it is a massive city. The median house price is ~340k, something that most normal people can afford. There is a clear correlation between reduced zoning restrictions and lower housing costs.