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Population increase brings job-opportunity increase. Then we will need even more high density housing. This is a vicious cycle. "Just build more housing" is not
by the_gipsy 3y ago
Population increase brings job-opportunity increase. Then we will need even more high density housing. This is a vicious cycle. "Just build more housing" is not the solution.
- satvikpendem 3y agoSounds like that's exactly the solution. Build more housing until supply meets demand, even if demand rises. It's not as if the population is infinite.
- the_gipsy 3y agoThe demand rises above above what's physically possible to offer. And it's not about population growth, but migration.
- satvikpendem 3y agoWhy would it? It doesn't happen today even in countries with cheap housing, like internal migration in Japan. People aren't going to suddenly flock to countries for cheap housing, otherwise we'd see a bunch of Americans moving to Thailand or something.
- the_gipsy 3y agoExactly, nobody flocks to housing on its own: people migrate to job opportunities. Which increase with population density. If you increase housing where there is already demand due to job opportunities, then you increase density there, and then you increase the job opportunities again, and thus you increase the demand even more than what you satisfied with the new housing. It's not as simple as "build more houses!".
- satvikpendem 3y agoI don't think you understand what I'm saying. The cycle you're talking about is not an infinite process, nor is it guaranteed that people will flock somewhere just because there is more housing, because it is also not guaranteed that job opportunities increase due to lowered housing. You have your causality incorrect there.
- the_gipsy 3y agoIt's obviously not infinite because, as I said, there is a physical ceiling to how much housing you can cram into an area until it's too expensive. When you reach that ceiling you did not improve anything, on the contrary.
- satvikpendem 3y agoOkay, you cram as much housing as you want in an area, then what? Just because you build X number of houses does not mean that X number of people will move there. That is what I'm saying, your order of cause and effect is reversed.
- red-iron-pine 3y agoI suspect you haven't been to Thailand, cuz there is a shit ton of expats hanging out there. Laws about visas and home ownership -- can't own a house unless you're Thai -- complicate that.
- satvikpendem 3y agoI have indeed been to Thailand as well as a lot of Asia. My point is that as many expats are there, most people in the US aren't going to go to another random country simply because there are lower housing costs. While housing costs are correlated with movement of people, there are many other complex factors involved.