4 ms·

NIMBYs are the reason California doesn't build enough housing, not rent control.

by vkou 3y ago

Xorakios 3y ago
Both of those, plus environmental reviews adding years, sometimes decades. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/03/signature-environmental-law-hurts-housing/618264/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/03/signature-...
- vkou 3y ago
  Environmental review is just another way of saying NIMBY. Developers building non-rental housing don't care about rent control. In fact, they benefit from rents being high, and from there being a housing shortage, as it makes non-rental housing more financially attractive. Developers building rental housing shouldn't care much about it, either, as their financing is dependent on what they are going to rent the units out for, not what some grandma who lived in her apartment for 30 years is paying. Grandma's not part of the tenant market for new units, L5 SWEs making 400k/year are. Rent control isn't the reason you can't build.
  - itake 3y ago
    > Rent control isn't the reason you can't build. Can you explain why builders are paying rent control tenants to leave [0]? And where does the payoff money come from? Future rent? Future home buyers? [0] - https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/25/nyregion/new-york-builders-paying-huge-buyouts-to-tenants-in-their-way.html https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/25/nyregion/new-york-builder...
    - vkou 3y ago
      What % of a development's budget goes to this? I expect it to be less than 2% on the average, across the whole city. It's not the first, second, or even fifth reason for the supply-side shortage. The costs are passed on to the buyers/renters, and despite that, demand continues to massively exceed supply.
      - itake 3y ago
        Rent control is amazing deal for old people: Multi-million dollar payouts and insanely cheap rent, but these benefits are paid by the future generation of residents. As you said, eliminating rent control would lower prices by 2% on average (saving future residents millions) and helps projects be built faster (by removing red tape).
itake 3y ago
A "classic" scenario with rent control is a tenant lives in a home for 10 years and has below market rent. The LL wants the tenant to leave, so the landlord create more housing units [0]. But everyone throws their arms up, because the tenant can't afford market rent. A battle in court proceeds and the tenant ends up receiving a $100k buyout to leave. Based on this relatively common situation, rent control prevents more housing from being built and causes prices to increase (the $100k buyout needs to come from somewhere). [0] - https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/25/nyregion/new-york-builders-paying-huge-buyouts-to-tenants-in-their-way.html https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/25/nyregion/new-york-builder...

NIMBYs are the reason California doesn't build enough housing, not rent control.

by vkou 3y ago

NIMBYs are the reason California doesn't build enough housing, not rent control.

Both of those, plus environmental reviews adding years, sometimes decades. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/03/signature-environmental-law-hurts-housing/618264/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/03/signature-...

vkou 3y ago
Environmental review is just another way of saying NIMBY. Developers building non-rental housing don't care about rent control. In fact, they benefit from rents being high, and from there being a housing shortage, as it makes non-rental housing more financially attractive. Developers building rental housing shouldn't care much about it, either, as their financing is dependent on what they are going to rent the units out for, not what some grandma who lived in her apartment for 30 years is paying. Grandma's not part of the tenant market for new units, L5 SWEs making 400k/year are. Rent control isn't the reason you can't build.
- itake 3y ago
  > Rent control isn't the reason you can't build. Can you explain why builders are paying rent control tenants to leave [0]? And where does the payoff money come from? Future rent? Future home buyers? [0] - https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/25/nyregion/new-york-builders-paying-huge-buyouts-to-tenants-in-their-way.html https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/25/nyregion/new-york-builder...
  - vkou 3y ago
    What % of a development's budget goes to this? I expect it to be less than 2% on the average, across the whole city. It's not the first, second, or even fifth reason for the supply-side shortage. The costs are passed on to the buyers/renters, and despite that, demand continues to massively exceed supply.
    - itake 3y ago
      Rent control is amazing deal for old people: Multi-million dollar payouts and insanely cheap rent, but these benefits are paid by the future generation of residents. As you said, eliminating rent control would lower prices by 2% on average (saving future residents millions) and helps projects be built faster (by removing red tape).

itake 3y ago

A "classic" scenario with rent control is a tenant lives in a home for 10 years and has below market rent. The LL wants the tenant to leave, so the landlord create more housing units [0]. But everyone throws their arms up, because the tenant can't afford market rent. A battle in court proceeds and the tenant ends up receiving a $100k buyout to leave. Based on this relatively common situation, rent control prevents more housing from being built and causes prices to increase (the $100k buyout needs to come from somewhere). [0] - https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/25/nyregion/new-york-builders-paying-huge-buyouts-to-tenants-in-their-way.html https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/25/nyregion/new-york-builder...