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Who caused the Bay Area’s housing shortage?

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Re: Who caused the Bay Area’s housing shortage?

#3

Not one mention of Prop 13? Poor reporting. It's basically the rent control story writ large. Everyone who bought in the 20th century has such an "amazing deal" that they won't give it up unless you a) entice them with a better deal or b) gore their oxen and repeal 13.

How does prop 13 cause a housing crisis?

It certainly entices people to hold and rent properties they own rather than sell, but those units are still part of the housing stock.

I think repealing prop 13 for commercial properties makes sense as a way to raise tax revenue, but don’t see doing so for residential property having an impact on housing costs.

Re: Who caused the Bay Area’s housing shortage?

#5
post #3

Not one mention of Prop 13? Poor reporting. It's basically the rent control story writ large. Everyone who bought in the 20th century has such an "amazing deal" that they won't give it up unless you a) entice them with a better deal or b) gore their oxen and repeal 13.

How does prop 13 cause a housing crisis? It certainly entices people to hold and rent properties they own rather than sell, but those units are still part of the housing stock. I think repealing prop 13 for commercial properties makes sense as a way to raise tax revenue, but don’t see doing so for residential property having an impact on housing costs.

One way: it discourages people from moving to a downsized home when that's appropriate.

Re: Who caused the Bay Area’s housing shortage?

#6
post #3

Not one mention of Prop 13? Poor reporting. It's basically the rent control story writ large. Everyone who bought in the 20th century has such an "amazing deal" that they won't give it up unless you a) entice them with a better deal or b) gore their oxen and repeal 13.

How does prop 13 cause a housing crisis? It certainly entices people to hold and rent properties they own rather than sell, but those units are still part of the housing stock. I think repealing prop 13 for commercial properties makes sense as a way to raise tax revenue, but don’t see doing so for residential property having an impact on housing costs.

> How does prop 13 cause a housing crisis?

Because it heavily discourages people from selling their houses, reducing turnover and with it the potential for redevelopment.

Without prop 13, houses would be re-assessed every few years. The owners' taxes would increase (or decrease) as the value of their home changed. If property values increased enough, the taxes would encourage them to sell the property for a tidy sum and move someplace cheaper. A new buyer is much more likely to demolish and redevelop than the existing owner.

Re: Who caused the Bay Area’s housing shortage?

#7
post #3

Not one mention of Prop 13? Poor reporting. It's basically the rent control story writ large. Everyone who bought in the 20th century has such an "amazing deal" that they won't give it up unless you a) entice them with a better deal or b) gore their oxen and repeal 13.

How does prop 13 cause a housing crisis? It certainly entices people to hold and rent properties they own rather than sell, but those units are still part of the housing stock. I think repealing prop 13 for commercial properties makes sense as a way to raise tax revenue, but don’t see doing so for residential property having an impact on housing costs.

Let's say that your town is considering whether to preserve a zoning policy of all single family homes with a large minimum lot size, or is looking to allow density. What would prevent you from supporting the lower-density option?

One reason may be that you are concerned that restricting the development of land would drive scarcity, leading land values to rise (which would cause your property tax to rise). You're effectively forced to pay for the cost of rising land prices.

...Now, if you are sheltered from rising land values, as per Prop 13, you now suffer no repercussions from a downzoning, and in fact may be completely indifferent to how the land market is behaving. Many homeowners are now free to act in their own best interest (which means downzoning), instead of being incentivized to create capacity for more housing.

Re: Who caused the Bay Area’s housing shortage?

#8
post #3

Not one mention of Prop 13? Poor reporting. It's basically the rent control story writ large. Everyone who bought in the 20th century has such an "amazing deal" that they won't give it up unless you a) entice them with a better deal or b) gore their oxen and repeal 13.

How does prop 13 cause a housing crisis? It certainly entices people to hold and rent properties they own rather than sell, but those units are still part of the housing stock. I think repealing prop 13 for commercial properties makes sense as a way to raise tax revenue, but don’t see doing so for residential property having an impact on housing costs.

There's a guy on my street that owns 27 houses, all bought in the 90s. While that guy is getting subsidized income by paying less taxes on high value property he is less likely to sell that property to developers who will build higher density housing. The same can be applied to the people who own vacation or retirement homes out here (there's a surprising amount of vacant property out here). The taxes that aren't being paid by all those people has to be made up for somewhere, so the taxes on new property owners are higher (as are the number if different fees and things like sales tax).

Re: Who caused the Bay Area’s housing shortage?

#9
post #3

Not one mention of Prop 13? Poor reporting. It's basically the rent control story writ large. Everyone who bought in the 20th century has such an "amazing deal" that they won't give it up unless you a) entice them with a better deal or b) gore their oxen and repeal 13.

How does prop 13 cause a housing crisis? It certainly entices people to hold and rent properties they own rather than sell, but those units are still part of the housing stock. I think repealing prop 13 for commercial properties makes sense as a way to raise tax revenue, but don’t see doing so for residential property having an impact on housing costs.

Higher property taxes makes housing allocation more efficient as people not using the house, retired people in high cost areas, etc would be incentivized to either sell or rent their house out.

Re: Who caused the Bay Area’s housing shortage?

#10
A self-centered desire to preserve an environmentally unfriendly suburbia at the expense of others who wanted to share in the region's prosperity contributed the shortage.

In the article the polls cited say that people think it was profit seeking developers and "technology companies who add jobs". Clearly instead of accommodating these desirable jobs we should give ample incentive for them to go elsewhere.

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