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>We need to take action to lower the price of housing. Who's "we"? The problems you cite, zoning rules etc., are all local issues caused by the people in thos

>We need to take action to lower the price of housing. Who's "we"? The problems you cite, zoning rules etc., are all local issues caused by the people in those places voting for leaders who maintain these anti-housing policies, because it's good for their home values. And it's not just the homeowners; the renters have a vote too, but I don't see them voting for anyone who wants to change zoning laws and increase density. >Housing cannot be both affordable and a good investment. True, but obviously most Americans prefer the latter. Just look at many of the comments right here: people advocating for "generational wealth" and how housing must be an investment.

pauldenton 3y ago
The problem is Political. Municipal governments only have an obligation to the people who currently live there. They owe nothing to people who want to live there if it was more affordable. They owe a lot to the people living in the community who want to raise their property values. "We" can fix it at a State or Federal level. The President represents everyone in the country. Including the people who live in a place and the people who want to move there from another State
- shiroiuma 3y ago
  >We" can fix it at a State or Federal level. That's the only way, because, as you said, municipal governments only answer to the people who live there. Here in Japan, they passed a national zoning law decades ago that prevents localities from enacting their own zoning legislation, and makes uniform (and extremely permissive) zoning across the whole country. Basically, if you own land, you can build housing there if you want, unless it's one of the uncommon heavy industrial zones. So there's no real shortage of housing; if it's profitable to build, they'll build it. Lots of people complain that the result is chaotic-looking neighborhoods where there's no way to get the buildings to look similar to each other, but I really like not having to deal with all the crime and homelessness that results from the western model.
  - pauldenton 3y ago
    Japanese zoning is better in another way. http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html Japanese do not impose one or two exclusive uses for every zone. They tend to view things more as the maximum nuisance level to tolerate in each zone, but every use that is considered to be less of a nuisance is still allowed. So low-nuisance uses are allowed essentially everywhere. That means that almost all Japanese zones allow mixed use developments

pauldenton 3y ago

The problem is Political. Municipal governments only have an obligation to the people who currently live there. They owe nothing to people who want to live there if it was more affordable. They owe a lot to the people living in the community who want to raise their property values. "We" can fix it at a State or Federal level. The President represents everyone in the country. Including the people who live in a place and the people who want to move there from another State

shiroiuma 3y ago
>We" can fix it at a State or Federal level. That's the only way, because, as you said, municipal governments only answer to the people who live there. Here in Japan, they passed a national zoning law decades ago that prevents localities from enacting their own zoning legislation, and makes uniform (and extremely permissive) zoning across the whole country. Basically, if you own land, you can build housing there if you want, unless it's one of the uncommon heavy industrial zones. So there's no real shortage of housing; if it's profitable to build, they'll build it. Lots of people complain that the result is chaotic-looking neighborhoods where there's no way to get the buildings to look similar to each other, but I really like not having to deal with all the crime and homelessness that results from the western model.
- pauldenton 3y ago
  Japanese zoning is better in another way. http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html Japanese do not impose one or two exclusive uses for every zone. They tend to view things more as the maximum nuisance level to tolerate in each zone, but every use that is considered to be less of a nuisance is still allowed. So low-nuisance uses are allowed essentially everywhere. That means that almost all Japanese zones allow mixed use developments