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This is one of those things that sounds radical now but was completely normal policy 70 years ago. The federal government used to directly build housing—lots of

This is one of those things that sounds radical now but was completely normal policy 70 years ago. The federal government used to directly build housing—lots of it—for working-class families. Projects like the New Deal and post-WWII housing initiatives weren't perfect, but they did provide millions of people with stable places to live. What changed? Mostly a shift toward neoliberal policies in the '70s and '80s that framed government intervention as inefficient and market solutions as inherently superior. We offloaded housing policy to private developers and then acted shocked when affordability cratered. We don’t need to reinvent anything—we just need the political will to do what we already did once, and quite successfully. Instead of addressing systemic issues like housing, wages, climate change and healthcare, we started screaming about the culture wars (thanks Reagan). It was easier (and more profitable) to stir outrage over symbolic issues than to solve material problems. We could’ve been building homes, but we got tricked into yelling about bathrooms and book bans instead.

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zajio1am 1y ago
You ignore the administrative/legal barriers to any new project that greatly increased since that time, due to legislation pushed mostly by left. Today it is substantially harder to build anything, both for public and private sector (although private sector can push through by throwing more money at the problem). > We don’t need to reinvent anything—we just need the political will to do what we already did once, and quite successfully. We are in vetocracy, because cheapest way way to placate your political supporters is to give them power to veto what they do not want (instead of accomplish anything positive). See https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/05/abundance-democrats-political-power/682929/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/05/abundance-...
- redserk 1y ago
  Your initial take is bizarrely politically charged for something that transcends the left-right divide. Many non-“left” barriers have been raised too and ignoring that only contributes to the mess we’re in. For example: zoning and planning. Plenty of folks would like to claim they want more homeless housing, just not near them. I find the divide between what people want nationally versus locally very amusing: https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/44611-opinions-national-vs-local-development-poll https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/44611-opinions-na...

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zajio1am 1y ago

You ignore the administrative/legal barriers to any new project that greatly increased since that time, due to legislation pushed mostly by left. Today it is substantially harder to build anything, both for public and private sector (although private sector can push through by throwing more money at the problem). > We don’t need to reinvent anything—we just need the political will to do what we already did once, and quite successfully. We are in vetocracy, because cheapest way way to placate your political supporters is to give them power to veto what they do not want (instead of accomplish anything positive). See https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/05/abundance-democrats-political-power/682929/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/05/abundance-...

redserk 1y ago
Your initial take is bizarrely politically charged for something that transcends the left-right divide. Many non-“left” barriers have been raised too and ignoring that only contributes to the mess we’re in. For example: zoning and planning. Plenty of folks would like to claim they want more homeless housing, just not near them. I find the divide between what people want nationally versus locally very amusing: https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/44611-opinions-national-vs-local-development-poll https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/44611-opinions-na...