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Renter here, and we have a huge problem with housing up here as well. However, I don’t understand why would any level of the government would want to act in any

by kredd 3y ago

Renter here, and we have a huge problem with housing up here as well. However, I don’t understand why would any level of the government would want to act in any way that can significantly decrease housing prices. Super-majority of people own their homes, why would they ever support a government that would be willing to hurt their own investment? Admittedly, I don’t have a solution here, and I understand how it hurts us especially long term. Convincing people to act against their self-interest is also not easy. Even my friends who have been on “housing prices have to drop” camp jumped across the fence once they got their own place. Obviously, this wouldn’t be the case if we didn’t look at housing as an investment, but here we are.

a_wild_dandan 3y ago
The solution is simple: outvote NIMBYs. Until that solution is simple and easy, we wait. We'll get there. The interim will hurt, but we'll get there.
- kredd 3y ago
  But as the time goes, renters would just turn into home owners, who also wouldn’t vote against their self-interest, no? You would have relatively the same percentage of people who rent, unless something dramatic happens population-pyramid wise. I get that it’s important to build a lot of housing, which would help the prices to at least hold steady, but it still wouldn’t cause any reduction in prices (again, unless something like COVID but more lasting happens). The demand side of the equation is making it very hard for people to overcome the barrier of entry. I’m actually curious what will happen in like 15 years in countries where population decrease will be visible. To my understanding, even Tokyo/Osaka are still growing due to people moving in from the countryside. At some point the demand will be collapsing, and curious how the governments in Japan/SK/China will respond.
- HDThoreaun 3y ago
  Ok but the comment your replying to is pointing out that a super majority of this countries voters are heavily incentivized to be NIMBYs because they own their home. Even if every renter voted YIMBY the homeowners could outvote them. Why would waiting change any of this?

by kredd 3y ago

a_wild_dandan 3y ago

The solution is simple: outvote NIMBYs. Until that solution is simple and easy, we wait. We'll get there. The interim will hurt, but we'll get there.

kredd 3y ago
But as the time goes, renters would just turn into home owners, who also wouldn’t vote against their self-interest, no? You would have relatively the same percentage of people who rent, unless something dramatic happens population-pyramid wise. I get that it’s important to build a lot of housing, which would help the prices to at least hold steady, but it still wouldn’t cause any reduction in prices (again, unless something like COVID but more lasting happens). The demand side of the equation is making it very hard for people to overcome the barrier of entry. I’m actually curious what will happen in like 15 years in countries where population decrease will be visible. To my understanding, even Tokyo/Osaka are still growing due to people moving in from the countryside. At some point the demand will be collapsing, and curious how the governments in Japan/SK/China will respond.
HDThoreaun 3y ago
Ok but the comment your replying to is pointing out that a super majority of this countries voters are heavily incentivized to be NIMBYs because they own their home. Even if every renter voted YIMBY the homeowners could outvote them. Why would waiting change any of this?