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In Silicon Valley Suburbs, Calls to Limit the Soaring Rents

nytimes.com

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Re: In Silicon Valley Suburbs, Calls to Limit the Soaring Rents

#81

Post by fraserharris »

pgwhalen wrote: post #66
fraserharris wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best way i've seen this framed is: in all of the US, there are only about 2,000 blocks of housing with sufficient density & walkable services to support car free living. This is some of the most sought after and expensive real estate in the country, but zoning codes won't allow more of it to be built. Example zoning restrictions: mandatory building setbacks, mandatory parking requirements, mandatory building sepa…

Manhattan alone is on the order of 2000 blocks, I don't know where you came up with that figure.

Poorly recalling from my memory. Given that a "block" is a variable metric, the actual number is less important than the concept that it is a static. There are only ~5 cities in the US with > 1,000 of these blocks: NYC, Boston, DC, SF, Chicago (Philadelphia?, Baltimore?)* AND with a transportation network that makes car-free living possible. Developers would build more such areas if zoning allowed.

* Forgive my ignorance for being from the West Coast. Even in SF its difficult to live car free if you don't live on BART or Muni Metro.

Re: In Silicon Valley Suburbs, Calls to Limit the Soaring Rents

#82

Post by fraserharris »

DrScump wrote: post #70
fraserharris wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best way i've seen this framed is: in all of the US, there are only about 2,000 blocks of housing with sufficient density & walkable services to support car free living. This is some of the most sought after and expensive real estate in the country, but zoning codes won't allow more of it to be built. Example zoning restrictions: mandatory building setbacks, mandatory parking requirements, mandatory building sepa…

high minimum lot sizes. I'm confused. I can hardly think of an area with smaller average single family house lot areas than SF.

Exactly. Developers are economically incentivized to subdivide to the maximum extent. Low minimum lot sizes encourages small lot sizes = high density.

Re: In Silicon Valley Suburbs, Calls to Limit the Soaring Rents

#83

Post by alexmat »

tuna-piano wrote: post #73
alexmat wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as a fun thought experiment, let's say we price all the service workers at current income levels out of the market so they all move away. At some point, people will be willing to pay more for service work due to a strong demand for limited services. It almost seems pernicious to have low income housing since it allows employers to get away with lower wages to cover an artificially low cost of housing, at the sam…

Your first point is definitely correct, one example (a mix of factors) would be the $17+ wages for Walmart and fast food workers in North Dakota energy boom towns(1). Your second point is interesting, but I suspect only partially correct. I imagine subsidizing service workers to live in low income housing does allow businesses to pay service workers less in those areas. However, if those low income housing units were…

Thanks for the link, that's exactly what I had in mind!

Re: In Silicon Valley Suburbs, Calls to Limit the Soaring Rents

#84

Post by kafkaesq »

pmcollins wrote: post #36

I grew up in California, went to Berkeley, and worked in there for years, but I couldn't stand the backwardness of California's homeowner cabal anymore and moved out of state. In my new state, there's no rent control, no NIMBYism, and homes and neighborhoods are beautiful and affordable. Sure, there's more room to grow here, fewer people, and a smaller economy, so it's not a completely fair comparison, but take a mom…

But take a moment and look on a satellite map at how much land in the bay area is completely undeveloped, most of it on hillsides.

Because... unlike certain other parts in the U.S. (or California, even) people in the Bay Area recognize the value of maintaining at least a few tiny shards of open, undeveloped space -- and have, over decades and generations, fought hard to preserve these spaces?

It's not NIMBYism -- it's common sense, and basic ecological awareness.

Re: In Silicon Valley Suburbs, Calls to Limit the Soaring Rents

#85

Post by Sherice »

Lovely article - one of the best things I've recently read, and by far the most useful. I also can be helpful here :) I've forgotten the last time I filled out a form on paper. I mostly use PDFfiller to edit. You can easily fill IA DoR 1040 here "http://pdf.ac/3JAfkE"

Re: In Silicon Valley Suburbs, Calls to Limit the Soaring Rents

#86

Post by Sherice »

Lovely article - one of the best things I've recently read, and by far the most useful. I also can be helpful here :) I've forgotten the last time I filled out a form on paper. I mostly use PDFfiller to edit. You can easily fill IA DoR 1040 here "http://pdf.ac/3JAfkE"
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