"...developer's disinterest in cheap housing" Developers want to build profitable housing. Housing that is currently legal to build is less expensive and less

"...developer's disinterest in cheap housing" Developers want to build profitable housing. Housing that is currently legal to build is less expensive and less risky than pursuing zoning changes. In any expensive metro, developers build exactly as much as legal to build, and use excess capital to pursue speculative re-/up-zonings of unbuildable land. That option is only available to the biggest homebuilders. Developers were happy to build NYCs slum tenements when they weren't quantity-constrained.