11–20 of 149 posts
A big part of the solution in North America is to change zoning and planning laws to allow for (missing) middle housing and allow for building up.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>The last thing the world needs is more housing construction, especially with the insane CO2 footprint of anything involving concrete. That self imposed limit is exactly what keeps prices high. Every city has some run down areas that serve no purpose but are wasted space and could be turned into housing. Also, as some others already said it, living in urban areas reduces your footprint versus living far away in the c…
I wouldn't return to more rural areas if 100% WFH is possible. Some left it for a reason and not to get better internet. And, at least in germany, many rural areas are not so unattractive. I know plenty rural villages with great internet. Especially in BW public transport is solid, the next bigger population center is close by and there are many jobs. It's just conservative, culturally boring, inflexible and really s…
And yes, part of the problem nobody wants to go back isn't jus the "vibe" and lack of "hip culture, art scene and hipster cafes", but that basic infrastructure like good schools, teachers, hospitals, doctors offices and specialists, have been left to rot and they also moved out of the city(the younger generation) or just retired and died along with the town, so bringing all that back to life is nearly impossible as now it's a catch-22, nobody wants to move there because there are no good doctors and teachers, and there are no good doctors and teachers because there's nothing there.
>It's just conservative, culturally boring, inflexible and really set in their old ways.
But then we can't complain that the hip and open minded urban areas are too expensive when everyone runs away from the rural areas to the same handful of hip cities.
Maybe it's our duty as well to try and push for the change we want in those places, instead of always packing our bags and leaving for the cities that are livable on paper because they already share our mentality but in the process crowding them to the point where the stress around housing makes them unlivable in practice unless you're super wealthy.
It really is high time there is some serious regulation around home ownership, especially as an investment vehicle.
I would even say this is an existential issue for our current civilizational model - the unaffordability of housing is contributing to demographic decline globally.
Of course, if everyone's wages would rise X%, it will increase rents and real-estate prices accordingly, as those are always prices as high as the market would bear and the more disposable income the market has, the more it can bear price increases.
Housing is a fixed cost that everyone is required to pay. I can stop buying chicken. I can't stop paying for housing. There are peculiarities about housing as a "product" that make it nonsensical to compare to other products or markets. The housing market can easily increase prices as much as it wants without losing out on revenue or potential gains, and in many markets it has done so to the degree that millions of p…
While I agree that landlords are vampires, that here is wrong: > But there is a stack of research a mile high that shows that the number one thing we need is a lot more housing supply There are millions of units vacant everywhere, be it the US [1] or Germany [2]. The last thing the world needs is more housing construction, especially with the insane CO2 footprint of anything involving concrete. The problem is that ru…
The problem is that rural areas don't pay their way. Rural areas only exist at the charity of the cities funding them.
If you want rural areas to thrive, you need to figure out how to make them economically viable. That means you need local production to be more cost effective than global production.
A good start would be having universal healthcare so hospitals in rural areas would stop closing. Another good start would be to start increasing taxes on imports and subsidizing some exports in order to balance the fact that the US has hollowed out labor by sending it overseas.
Alas, the same people who fight against universal healthcare and import excise taxes are also those who live in rural areas.
And here we are. And so it will continue.
While I agree that landlords are vampires, that here is wrong: > But there is a stack of research a mile high that shows that the number one thing we need is a lot more housing supply There are millions of units vacant everywhere, be it the US [1] or Germany [2]. The last thing the world needs is more housing construction, especially with the insane CO2 footprint of anything involving concrete. The problem is that ru…
The carbon footprint of your average city dweller is far lower.
This story is being repeated across countries and cities. It really is high time there is some serious regulation around home ownership, especially as an investment vehicle. I would even say this is an existential issue for our current civilizational model - the unaffordability of housing is contributing to demographic decline globally.
While I agree that landlords are vampires, that here is wrong: > But there is a stack of research a mile high that shows that the number one thing we need is a lot more housing supply There are millions of units vacant everywhere, be it the US [1] or Germany [2]. The last thing the world needs is more housing construction, especially with the insane CO2 footprint of anything involving concrete. The problem is that ru…
> The problem is that rural areas ("flyover states") have been left to rot: no reliable electricity grid, no public transport, basic infrastructure from grocery stores over schools to basic healthcare has closed down
This narrative also works in the UK, but where the abandoned areas are mostly coastal. Seaside towns with no tourists and no fish. Ex-mining areas. And the same problem of people becoming more rightist as they become more resource-starved, preferring the solution of demonizing people they think shouldn't get resources rather than anything else.
Fairly sure this list correlates with high votes for Brexit: https://www.moveiq.co.uk/blog/buying/10-cheapest-places-buy-... Let's have a look at Middlesborough since it's at the top and I have ancestors from there.
You can get a really cheap house in town, near plenty of infrastructure: https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/62793200/
Why is it so cheap? Well, unemployment is really high: https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/new-data-re...
And how did that happen? https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/28/redcar-stee...
Not really sure what central government could do about this, but I'm fairly sure they've not even tried thinking about it.
The problem isn't land owners it's landlords. Renting should be illegal and anyone caught accepting rent should lose his property to the renter. Owning a lot of land/houses isn't really the problem. It's when you're not using them that's the problem. You should just sell and not leech on society by renting.
While I agree that landlords are vampires, that here is wrong: > But there is a stack of research a mile high that shows that the number one thing we need is a lot more housing supply There are millions of units vacant everywhere, be it the US [1] or Germany [2]. The last thing the world needs is more housing construction, especially with the insane CO2 footprint of anything involving concrete. The problem is that ru…
If what you care about is climate change, you should be in favor of cramming people into the smallest possible spaces in urban areas, not putting them in rural areas where they have to drive 20 minutes to get to the grocery store. The carbon footprint of your average city dweller is far lower.