Live data from Hacker News

Should more of us be moving to live near friends?

architecturaldigest.com

11–20 of 517 posts

Re: Should more of us be moving to live near friends?

#11

Great idea - to make this happen we either need to solve the housing affordability crisis in high-density areas, or spread job opportunities around to lower-density areas. My friends are in a diverse set of fields, finding a place with jobs for all of them isn't feasible right now.

Tokyo seems to have done this. It’s not cheap by any means, but rent seems relatively affordable relative to pay (and very cheap compared to expensive cities in North America).

I wonder if part of the reason is that housing is not an investment vehicle in Japan (probably due to the Japanese preference for newer, more modern builds and the fact that housing is a depreciating asset in an earthquake prone region).

In most parts of the world, housing is tied to land, and land is very expensive. What makes things worse in North America is cultural dislike of verticality —- people want to preserve a museum of their low-rise neighborhoods and don’t want any tall buildings to block the view. That’s fine, but the cost is unaffordable housing.

Re: Should more of us be moving to live near friends?

#13

rich people problems

More like I need to be rich to move to where my friends are - I went to college in the Bay Area and I can’t afford to live there. But honestly it’s not hard to keep in touch these days if you want to so I’m not the least bit bothered.

As a renter, I’m constantly on the move because I can’t afford homeownership - the price to rent ratio is firmly between 19 and 20 at the moment, and that’s after moving from the Bay Area. Buying is a minimum of a 48% increase here in Seattle, that absurd.

Re: Should more of us be moving to live near friends?

#14

rich people problems

Rilly? In my experience, many of the rich people are isolated and paralyzed by concerns about status and wealth and family connections and ....

It's the poor who are often able to put those issues aside because they have so little status and wealth. They have nothing to lose.

Re: Should more of us be moving to live near friends?

#16
post #8

Or, in California, buy a single-family urban home and subdivide it under SB-9.

Another popular option in California that does not get mentioned in the article are what is called Planned Unit Developments or PUDs. These are case by case approved plans to develop dense housing on a lot that might otherwise have a single building or unit. Three or more townhouses is a common alternative but sometimes there are cottage bungalows or a mix.

Re: Should more of us be moving to live near friends?

#17
Weird that the article frames friends as being constant in life and your career/house/neighborhood/kids' schools/community as totally flexible when practically speaking it's the other way around. It is normal to move away from people you formed bonds with in high school and college. If you are lonely the solution isn't to uproot your life and go after them, but to form new bonds with people who are around you right now. The end result is the same – you get to live near friends.

Re: Should more of us be moving to live near friends?

#19

rich people problems

More like I need to be rich to move to where my friends are - I went to college in the Bay Area and I can’t afford to live there. But honestly it’s not hard to keep in touch these days if you want to so I’m not the least bit bothered. As a renter, I’m constantly on the move because I can’t afford homeownership - the price to rent ratio is firmly between 19 and 20 at the moment, and that’s after moving from the Bay Ar…

> More like I need to be rich to move to where my friends are

Like most folks, we live where we can. Being able to pick a spot on a map has never been a possibility.

It's been tighter than that tho. In 2021 we beat loooong odds to find any housing and insane odds to score a decent place that fit all of us. People with money in the bank were going homeless.

Post reply on HN