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Sim NIMBY, the Game Where You Can’t Build Anything

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Re: Sim NIMBY, the Game Where You Can’t Build Anything

#11
post #4

About that example in the text, new housing to solve the homeless problem (anti-)NIMBYism. Would it? I'm not so sure. Wouldn't most if not almost all of the homeless just remain what they are and the new housing would be used by new people moving into the city? Unless there is a program actively moving homeless into the new housing, paying for them, and also a services to take care of mental health issues. For how ma…

I think you are kinda right in that it might be very hard to get people out of homelessness, but what more housing could do is prevent homelessness in the first place.

Presumably most people start their lives as not homeless, and at some point that changes, because housing prices exceed their income. More housing would lead to lower housing prices and less homelessness.

Re: Sim NIMBY, the Game Where You Can’t Build Anything

#12
post #4

About that example in the text, new housing to solve the homeless problem (anti-)NIMBYism. Would it? I'm not so sure. Wouldn't most if not almost all of the homeless just remain what they are and the new housing would be used by new people moving into the city? Unless there is a program actively moving homeless into the new housing, paying for them, and also a services to take care of mental health issues. For how ma…

The vast majority of homeless/unhoused people are completely normal healthy adults that had one bad turn in life and could not get back.

In a 2016 Census, only about 12% of the homeless population aged 15 and up were actually unable to work due to various maladies[0]. According to the same census report a whopping 62% of homeless males were currently employed.

The issue is not to just remember the 3 or 4 homeless people you've seen clearly dazed and likely unable to work, it's the thousands of people living in their car because rent is unaffordable for their income. That's the first point, abundance of housing lowers rents to the point of being affordable to Minimum-Wage workers.

Secondly, one of the first issues homeless shelters noticed is that employers require and address to even apply. So if one of those people living in their cars or under a bridge and still heading to work god forbid loses their job, they literally cannot apply to another one without a fixed address, another way affordable/abundant housing explicitly affects homeless employment.

The 12% that cannot work should probably not be on the street and should be cared for in shelters, but many shelters are filled with people who's employers underpay or pay an unlivable income and so also require shelters. Abundant housing thus allows people in the work-force to not be priced out of a roof, opening up shelters for those that cannot care for themselves.

More housing is a win-win-win. Except maybe it means aunt Karen notices more busses, which she doesn't like the sound of, hence no more developments to appease those with the ability to make their points to local government, at the cost of those that many people even avoid eye contact with.

[0] https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cp5hpi/cp...

Re: Sim NIMBY, the Game Where You Can’t Build Anything

#13
post #4

About that example in the text, new housing to solve the homeless problem (anti-)NIMBYism. Would it? I'm not so sure. Wouldn't most if not almost all of the homeless just remain what they are and the new housing would be used by new people moving into the city? Unless there is a program actively moving homeless into the new housing, paying for them, and also a services to take care of mental health issues. For how ma…

Not building is a symptom of a larger problem, not the disease itself. The issue people take with your comment is that it has gotten to the point that building pretty much anything would alleviate the disease, and you are applying nuance where it is unneeded.

Re: Sim NIMBY, the Game Where You Can’t Build Anything

#14
post #4

About that example in the text, new housing to solve the homeless problem (anti-)NIMBYism. Would it? I'm not so sure. Wouldn't most if not almost all of the homeless just remain what they are and the new housing would be used by new people moving into the city? Unless there is a program actively moving homeless into the new housing, paying for them, and also a services to take care of mental health issues. For how ma…

Imagine you built 400 million homes in San Francisco. Would every one be filled?

Programs show time and time again that housing homeless people massively helps and reduces the problem of homelessness

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_First#Evidence_and_out...

Re: Sim NIMBY, the Game Where You Can’t Build Anything

#16
post #4

About that example in the text, new housing to solve the homeless problem (anti-)NIMBYism. Would it? I'm not so sure. Wouldn't most if not almost all of the homeless just remain what they are and the new housing would be used by new people moving into the city? Unless there is a program actively moving homeless into the new housing, paying for them, and also a services to take care of mental health issues. For how ma…

I think that when you talk about homeless people, you talk about visible homelessness (those sleeping in tents or on bench). I'm not sure it's even a third of the homeless.

I was homeless while studying CS. I only had enough to rent an appartment for one year when i started, and since the school wasn't recognized by the state yet, i didn't qualified for most state aid for students. I slept at school, or at my friend and family 's apartment for almost two years. I wasn't the only one living like this btw, i think this was quite common in Paris. I also didn't own a car, and i think most homeless do sleep in their cars, it's easier.

Lower rent prices (1/3rd of what it was at the time) would definitely have helped me.

Re: Sim NIMBY, the Game Where You Can’t Build Anything

#17
You should be allowed to build parking in Sim NIMBY. I've never heard a NIMBY oppose more parking. Heaven forbid you allow people too.

The federal government needs to strengthen property rights if they want to see more housing at lower prices. I don't think they realize the degree of the housing disaster or its long term impacts on the economy yet. A lot of millennials are aging out of childbearing without having had children because of housing.

Re: Sim NIMBY, the Game Where You Can’t Build Anything

#18
post #17

You should be allowed to build parking in Sim NIMBY. I've never heard a NIMBY oppose more parking. Heaven forbid you allow people too. The federal government needs to strengthen property rights if they want to see more housing at lower prices. I don't think they realize the degree of the housing disaster or its long term impacts on the economy yet. A lot of millennials are aging out of childbearing without having had…

I think we need to reconceptualize property rights. Instead of something you 'own', it's valuable resources that you rented from the community.

Rich people gets to use the most valuable land, but they will also likely pay more, and also likely to use it more efficiently, unlike today where you have landowners who sat on lands worth million of dollars and oppose development. This is land hoarding and it's not good.

Re: Sim NIMBY, the Game Where You Can’t Build Anything

#20
post #18
post #17

You should be allowed to build parking in Sim NIMBY. I've never heard a NIMBY oppose more parking. Heaven forbid you allow people too. The federal government needs to strengthen property rights if they want to see more housing at lower prices. I don't think they realize the degree of the housing disaster or its long term impacts on the economy yet. A lot of millennials are aging out of childbearing without having had…

I think we need to reconceptualize property rights. Instead of something you 'own', it's valuable resources that you rented from the community. Rich people gets to use the most valuable land, but they will also likely pay more, and also likely to use it more efficiently, unlike today where you have landowners who sat on lands worth million of dollars and oppose development. This is land hoarding and it's not good.

This is basically what Georgism [1] aims to solve.

I don't think it's only a matter of imposing a land value tax, though. I think government regulations like zoning and poorly thought out housing code impede development the most. A developer would rather profit off their land. A land value tax incentivizes development from the back but you have to remove the barriers from the front as well.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism

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