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Has LA cracked the code for building affordable housing?

benjaminschneider.substack.com

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Re: Has LA cracked the code for building affordable housing?

#111

Post by cyberax »

epistasis wrote: post #100
cyberax wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tokyo manages to remain affordable somehow. Bullshit. Tokyo's average unit costs $1m now. They managed to create a bona-fide property bubble in the middle of declining population: https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/surging-tokyo-property-... The NYT article is (of course) a one-sided social engineering story, full of half-truths and outright lies.

You do realize that people can read the articles you link to, right? For example: > The flood of investment drove the average price for a new condominium in central Tokyo up 60% to a record 129.6 million yen ($865,000) in the first half of this year, according to the Real Estate Economic Institute. Prices surged. Before the surge, professionals had this dream of owning. So your own article refutes your nonsensical st…

> Prices surged. Before the surge, professionals had this dream of owning.

You're literally repeating the joke.

A doctor asks a nurse:

- Was the patient sweating prior to death?

- Yes.

- Good, that's a good sign.

> Or you assertion of "declining population"? Maybe on the national level, but it's not true of Tokyo!

Indeed. And that's my point. Tokyo, like a leech, is sucking the life from its surroundings.

> And what is the difference in cost between renting and owning? Perhaps renting is affordable, but ownership is extremely expensive becuase of irrational speculation or temporary macro factors?

No. They are not temporary. The prices will not fall, they have been steadily growing for the last 2 decades.

Re: Has LA cracked the code for building affordable housing?

#112

Post by thisgoesnowhere »

losteric wrote: post #49
thisgoesnowhere wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The restrictive zoning practices, long approval processes ridiculous permitting costs etc are in place because most people's entire net worth is held up in housing and they vote for laws that keep the price high for that reason. It's completely backwards to think that the reason why housing is expensive is because of those symptoms when the root cause is more than half the population wants mega high housing costs.

If height limits were raised with zoning for multi family housing, those investments would sky rocket faster than under NIMBY

And yet here we are

Re: Has LA cracked the code for building affordable housing?

#113

Post by deepthunder »

crooked-v wrote: post #32
cyberax wrote: post #23

[flagged]

> higher housing costs The basic reason for skyrocketing housing costs in major California cities is that there aren't enough housing units for the number of people living there. The solution to that is... ... ... denser housing.

What's to stop Hedge Funds or other "investors" from buying these houses up?

Houses have to be owner occupied, not investment vehicles. I know, I know "what about rentals", etc? When it comes to rentals may be the Vienna mode?

Re: Has LA cracked the code for building affordable housing?

#116

Post by Aloisius »

cyberax wrote: post #92
crooked-v wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> higher housing costs The basic reason for skyrocketing housing costs in major California cities is that there aren't enough housing units for the number of people living there. The solution to that is... ... ... denser housing.

> The solution to that is... ... ... denser housing. No large city in the US managed to decrease prices by building more housing (dense or not) within the last 25 years. There are several fundamental reasons why density increases won't work.

What large US city has actually built enough housing to even match natural population growth in the last 25 years?

More housing can only lower prices, in absolute terms, if it actually exceeds demand, but it still lowers prices compared to what they would have been had nothing been built, all else being equal.

There is broad consensus among economists that it is stringent regulatory controls constraining supply that lead to higher housing prices - not building more housing.

Re: Has LA cracked the code for building affordable housing?

#117

Post by hayst4ck »

jbm wrote: post #91
cyberax wrote: post #23

[flagged]

I agree in part with you, particularly the weird utopian beliefs people have about transit-enabled housing. I lived in Tokyo which is full of high density and the world's best public transit without the drug abuse issues in the West. Safe, omnipresent public transit like this is absolutely necessary for high density — and it's not ideal at all. Getting from point A to B for work is miserable. You walk to the station,…

> the world's best public transit.

FWIW, Tokyo is maybe a contender for 3rd. Taipei and Seoul are both an order of magnitude better than Tokyo for public transportation, in my opinion.

I recall NYC being better than Tokyo, too (when it worked).

Re: Has LA cracked the code for building affordable housing?

#118

Post by yowzadave »

cyberax wrote: post #23

[flagged]

Making these kinds of sweeping, counter-intuitive, absolute statements in all caps without any justification gives the impression of an analysis that may be colored by ideology rather than a clear look at the facts in question. If cities are too expensive because everybody wants to live there...perhaps they have some qualities other than "misery" that you haven't considered?

Re: Has LA cracked the code for building affordable housing?

#119

Post by Aloisius »

deepthunder wrote: post #113
crooked-v wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> higher housing costs The basic reason for skyrocketing housing costs in major California cities is that there aren't enough housing units for the number of people living there. The solution to that is... ... ... denser housing.

What's to stop Hedge Funds or other "investors" from buying these houses up? Houses have to be owner occupied, not investment vehicles. I know, I know "what about rentals", etc? When it comes to rentals may be the Vienna mode?

As long as they're occupied, who cares who is living there and who owns it? Demand for housing gets reduced.

Owners occupying certainly doesn't make them any less of an investment vehicle.

Re: Has LA cracked the code for building affordable housing?

#120

Post by ZoomerCretin »

cyberax wrote: post #110
ZoomerCretin wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's 646 square feet. That's 25'5"x25'5". For an urban area, that's plenty of space. That doesn't mean literally every apartment is that small, just that small and cheap apartments are available for those who want them, and American-sized apartments with American prices are also available for those who want to pay for them. That's one of the main reasons why housing is so expensive in the United States. We paternal…

> That's 646 square feet. That's 25'5"x25'5". For an urban area, that's plenty of space. It's not. And this is the total space, including the bathroom and the kitchen. > That doesn't mean literally every apartment is that small You are right, some are even smaller: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/03/business/tiny-apartments-... And all while just a hundred miles away, beautiful historical houses can be bought for lit…

Why do you feel the need to impose your values on others, even at great cost?
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