Price is not an issue when the choice is more expensive housing or more crime. Lower prices bring in more poor people which brings more crime. High prices are a feature, not a bug. This is perhaps the single most obvious and consistent, but most overlooked aspect of American urban development.
To ease the housing crunch, more places end single-family zoning
81–90 of 200 posts
Re: To ease the housing crunch, more places end single-family zoning
#82I kinda get it and kinda hate it. I am a pretty responsible dude but nothing has made me as invested in my community, surroundings, etc as owning a home. I always loved the US but once we bought the house I really understood it on the next level. Apartments are great for single people and retirees. Families should have a house with a back yard and a drive way. It's our dream.
Apartments are great for single people and retirees. Families should have a house with a back yard and a drive way. It's our dream.
There are a lot of households without children and not that many apartments—-especially higher end ones in nice places.
Allow some more of those to built so single people, retirees, and so-inclined others can move into them and that will free up houses with yards and white picket fences for families that want them.
My empty nester parents have no apartment options if they want to stay in the same community where they’ve lived for decades.
Re: To ease the housing crunch, more places end single-family zoning
#83I don’t care much for multi-family housing personally. I don’t want to share a wall with anyone, not even a family member and I’m willing to make some concessions for that freedom. However, recently I became interested in adding an “accessory dwelling unit” on my property to accommodate aging relatives. Despite having the space for a small 500-750 sqft unit on my property, my city’s zoning rules killed the idea. The…
Are you OK with other people living in multi unit housing, or does your desire for a detached unit extend to others' way of living? I ask because it seems that where ever this happens, many people oppose merely allowing multiunit because they don't want to live in multiunit, even though it doesn't actually impact where they live. It's like lifting a ban on a certain type of car; it doesn't change your car, and there…
> it seems that where ever this happens, many people oppose merely allowing multiunit because they don't want to live in multiunit, even though it doesn't actually impact where they live
No, that's not the reason at all. It's concerns over traffic, impact on already-packed schools, and overall crowding.
Re: To ease the housing crunch, more places end single-family zoning
#84Feels like it will perpetuate the trend of young adults not being able to afford to purchase a home. Duplexes and more apartments mean more renters. No matter your view on home ownership, there’s a lot to be said of the ability to stabilize your budget’s largest line item via fixed rate mortgages. This helps but is just a band aid.
Why is home ownership important? It’s a serious question. It’s currently important within the context of houses as a form of appreciating wealth that can be passed on to future generations, but a big part of the reason we have a housing crisis is due to conflating housing and investment. We need to step back from the notion that houses should be significant stores of wealth and concentrate fully on creating enough ho…
There's a perception of "renter mentality" being synonymous with indifference and lack of personal investment into the neighborhoods. E.g. ownership communities tend to have cleaner streets, less crime and fewer annoyances (like loud parties or improper parking) due to owners acting upon such infractions faster.
Re: To ease the housing crunch, more places end single-family zoning
#85I used to think that if average income cannot afford the average home, the market must necessarily correct. I’m wrong about this obviously but I still cannot understand why. I understand that wealthier people have vacation homes, but the only reason for a wealthy person to purchase an additional non-vacation home is to rent it out to someone less wealthy. Since the less wealthy person couldn’t cover the mortgage to b…
It's not a free market due to restrictive zoning. If artificial rules limit the supply of housing in places where people actually want to live, how could the market correct?
Re: To ease the housing crunch, more places end single-family zoning
#86> We don't have the space to incorporate a city, or urbanized living, within this small village of a community that we have," says Julie Lee, president of a neighborhood civic association and founding member of Arlingtonians for Upzoning Transparency, a group fighting the plan. Comments to these zoning fights are full of gems like this. Arlington is about the size of Buffalo NY and 50% denser. It hasn’t been anything…
An interesting question to ask is why do we always seem to grow by increasing density rather than establishing new small towns? Leon Krier's Drawing For Architecture contrasts over-expansion both with excessive density and excessive sprawl and by duplication. It seems to me that if it were legal to do so there are plenty of tiny towns that could grow to the size of a small city like Arlington or Buffalo.
Most small towns are not thriving despite the lack of legal barriers to their development.
Usually the reason is a lack of reasons to locate there. Even in the WFH era there are reasons to locate where existing good services and amenities are; a lot of amenities (niche business or cultural stuff, etc.) needs a critical mass of people to support it, and small towns generally don't have the mass. It is really hard to start up brand new septic or water delivery or whatnot in the middle of nowhere.
Also, consider that it doesn't take that many people to overwhelm a small town's population. What I hear in the Western states where remote WFH is becoming popular, is now WFH workers are pricing out existing residents, because rural salaries cannot compete with WFH wages. So WFH has mostly just resulted in exporting the housing crisis without significant easing in the places that had this problem pre-WFH.
Re: To ease the housing crunch, more places end single-family zoning
#87I kinda get it and kinda hate it. I am a pretty responsible dude but nothing has made me as invested in my community, surroundings, etc as owning a home. I always loved the US but once we bought the house I really understood it on the next level. Apartments are great for single people and retirees. Families should have a house with a back yard and a drive way. It's our dream.
Its your dream. Many people's dream is to own any house at all
Re: To ease the housing crunch, more places end single-family zoning
#88Feels like it will perpetuate the trend of young adults not being able to afford to purchase a home. Duplexes and more apartments mean more renters. No matter your view on home ownership, there’s a lot to be said of the ability to stabilize your budget’s largest line item via fixed rate mortgages. This helps but is just a band aid.
Why is home ownership important? It’s a serious question. It’s currently important within the context of houses as a form of appreciating wealth that can be passed on to future generations, but a big part of the reason we have a housing crisis is due to conflating housing and investment. We need to step back from the notion that houses should be significant stores of wealth and concentrate fully on creating enough ho…
I.d argue it is confusing long and short term investments. If you will live in the same place for at least 40 years a house is a great investment because you live there rent free after it is paid off. This only works if you pay it off, and continue to live there.
Re: To ease the housing crunch, more places end single-family zoning
#89I used to think that if average income cannot afford the average home, the market must necessarily correct. I’m wrong about this obviously but I still cannot understand why. I understand that wealthier people have vacation homes, but the only reason for a wealthy person to purchase an additional non-vacation home is to rent it out to someone less wealthy. Since the less wealthy person couldn’t cover the mortgage to b…
The market cannot optimize itself because a number of legislation like Prop 13, restrictive zoning and height limitations are there to prevent an efficient market.
Re: To ease the housing crunch, more places end single-family zoning
#90I kinda get it and kinda hate it. I am a pretty responsible dude but nothing has made me as invested in my community, surroundings, etc as owning a home. I always loved the US but once we bought the house I really understood it on the next level. Apartments are great for single people and retirees. Families should have a house with a back yard and a drive way. It's our dream.
Plenty of people buy without becoming invested in the community and plenty of people rent who are invested in the community. I suspect it depends upon both the personality of the person and where they are in life. Even then, suggesting that someone doesn't want to be invested in their community because their views on what community means differs from yours is liable to be biased. For example, I often hear people criticizing students as being transient, yet they are frequently interested in contributing to the development of the communities in wbich they live. Yet you cannot expect their vision to be the same as someone who is midcareer and has children.