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California bill to add more housing in single-family neighborhoods blocked

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141–150 of 175 posts

Re: California bill to add more housing in single-family neighborhoods blocked

#141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not an assumption of hypocrisy. It genuinely is hypocrisy. A group of people are praising themselves for their inclusivity, while pushing for exclusionary policies. If they want to pursue these policies without being hypocritical then they need to change their messaging to be transparent about their desire for exclusion rather than inclusion.

Are you saying that unless one welcomes an infinity of people in their backyard, one cannot be inclusive? I think you should explain and defend the policy you wish, instead of critizing an imaginary adversary by putting words in their mouth. If you want more housing, hoping that prices will go down, say so. If you favor a SF Bay area looking progressively more like NY City, say so. Many people are very happy in NYC.…

I'm saying that if one supports policies with the intended effect of excluding people from moving into one's neighborhood, it's hypocrisy to call oneself inclusive.

> If you want more housing, hoping that prices will go down, say so. If you favor a SF Bay area looking progressively more like NY City, say so. Many people are very happy in NYC.

Yes, absolutely. Build more housing and build denser housing. This is what pro-housing people have been saying for years.

> And prices are also very high there.

There's 8 million people in NYC instead of 800,000 in San Francisco.

> Just expect some people to frankly disagree with that proposed evolution, and don't attack them by being non inclusive: this is not the question. Misrepresenting their arguments is not helping further your point of view.

Pointing out the contradiction of one's purported values with their actions is not an attack. When people support exclusory policies like rent control and curbing housing development with the goal of reducing the ability of people to move there, they are being exclusive. This is not a misrepresentation. People who support said policies while simultaneously purporting to foster an inclusive community are indeed being hypocritical. This is not an attack, this is a factually correct observation.

Re: California bill to add more housing in single-family neighborhoods blocked

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what's wrong with fourplexes? i live in a neighborhood full of them and think they're great. they add a lot of character without additional massing, and the additional density unlocks commercial areas that are a walk away.

That's great that you like your neighborhood. Presumably you thought it was the best choice for you. I don't want to live in a high density area, so that's why I chose to live somewhere else.

What was the growth rate of the region when they moved in? They chose to buy a house in an area where this kind of growth was foreseeable. For many that growth and the increasing home values that come with it was probably the reason they moved there.

Re: California bill to add more housing in single-family neighborhoods blocked

#143
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People currently living there don't see it as a "housing crisis". They see it as "too many people coming here, trying to change our single family house peaceful residential neighborhood into bigger buildings". So "how about limiting influx of new people / new development?" "Sure, let's do that" I understand newcomers may disagree with that approach, out of understandable self interest. But implying people currently l…

The thing that I will never understand is that the incumbents with this attitude are still hurting themselves with these policies. Even if they own a home and are protected by Prop 13 from large property tax increases, they still have to contend with all the rest of the problems that the housing crisis brings. Perhaps the fear of change overrides common sense, but I find it hard to believe that, rationally, the neigh…

I think a lot of it boils down to an ingrained belief that real estate should be an investment. Everyone buys a house with the expectation that its value will go up. This means that homeowners are extremely adverse to policies that might reduce home prices (like building more housing).

Contrast this with houses in Japan, where it's expected that a home is a depreciating asset. Houses in the Special Wards of Tokyo can be bought for $300-400k: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGbC5j4pG9w

Re: California bill to add more housing in single-family neighborhoods blocked

#144
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're fine then with one person owning all the property?

If they acquire it legally, then who are any of us to object?

If one person onws everything, he is de facto the government.

Re: California bill to add more housing in single-family neighborhoods blocked

#145

California's housing crisis benefits existing homeowners, and this group has the greatest sway with legislators. It seems like a ponzi scheme, even if it's not intentional: people who can't afford to live here move away, and are replaced by wealthier people who can. Eventually we're going to run out of wealthy people and the whole thing will come crashing down.

I know of no one that is against putting up more housing near transit. People that live near the new construction will see their property values and quality of life rise due to more walkable businesses nearby. People selling existing houses on up zoned lots should also be able to charge a premium, knowing the developers are putting in >>$10M of housing units on the lot.

I wish I knew which legislators blocked this so I could donate to their opponents.

Re: California bill to add more housing in single-family neighborhoods blocked

#146

California's housing crisis benefits existing homeowners, and this group has the greatest sway with legislators. It seems like a ponzi scheme, even if it's not intentional: people who can't afford to live here move away, and are replaced by wealthier people who can. Eventually we're going to run out of wealthy people and the whole thing will come crashing down.

What does "crashing down" mean, exactly? Do you mean economic development will stall? Then that would imply that home prices will decline and/or people will start leaving the state. If so, then that's the market at work, solving the problem without government intervention.

Americans are fleeing SF in masses already.

Re: California bill to add more housing in single-family neighborhoods blocked

#147
Thanks for writing. A veteran who has VA loan entitlement wouldn't be extending this benefit to anyone else, but he or she could look to have the new spouse as a co-borrower on a new VA loan. You can talk with a Veterans United loan specialist in more detail at (431) 300-7649 elijahcapitals@gmail.com

Re: California bill to add more housing in single-family neighborhoods blocked

#148
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By 'crashing down' I mean a stiff housing price correction. There's already heavy government intervention in the housing markets, that's the problem: developers can't simply buy land and develop it to it's maximum potential. There are regulations that prevent the market from meeting demand, hence the skyrocketing prices that can't be addressed by increasing supply.

>By 'crashing down' I mean a stiff housing price correction. I don't see how that's a problem, in fact it sounds like a solution. I'm certainly not going to cry over a bunch of rich people losing their shirts on overpriced real estate.

The problem is that many people can't afford to live there in the period of bubble.

Re: California bill to add more housing in single-family neighborhoods blocked

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not an assumption of hypocrisy. It genuinely is hypocrisy. A group of people are praising themselves for their inclusivity, while pushing for exclusionary policies. If they want to pursue these policies without being hypocritical then they need to change their messaging to be transparent about their desire for exclusion rather than inclusion.

Are you saying that unless one welcomes an infinity of people in their backyard, one cannot be inclusive? I think you should explain and defend the policy you wish, instead of critizing an imaginary adversary by putting words in their mouth. If you want more housing, hoping that prices will go down, say so. If you favor a SF Bay area looking progressively more like NY City, say so. Many people are very happy in NYC.…

> Are you saying that unless one welcomes an infinity of people in their backyard, one cannot be inclusive?

San Francisco is a sanctuary city so officially they do encourage more newcomers to come.

Re: California bill to add more housing in single-family neighborhoods blocked

#150
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Property crashes do happen from time to time. Even in HK, Mumbai, London, etc...

Other than minor blips, long-term trend is positive. Check out the ten year trend at [1] [1] https://tradingeconomics.com/hong-kong/housing-index It may be an unpopular notion or maybe folks in SF are hoping to time the market, but the general trend across the globe is increasing price in desirable locales, barring natural disasters. So, yes, if a major earthquake hit SF, there would be a price correction :)

> Other than minor blips, long-term trend is positive. Check out the ten year trend

The entire global equities market has been going crazy for the past decade, in no small part due to the historically low interest rates.

Claiming that housing prices will keep going up is like claiming that the stock market will keep going up. Even if it is true in the long run, you can have recessions or depressions, some that may last decades (see Japan's stock market since the 90s).

Bull runs don't last forever. Rental yields are abysmal in top cities, sometimes barely enough to cover the unit's tax burden & maintenance. If equities go down, so will the value of these units.

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