211–220 of 799 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm speaking only to overall property values, because that's the argument I was replying to. I don't care about your preferences.
I am responding to your first sentence, which is "Upzoning is a win-win for existing homeowners", which is not true in general.
Of course timber won't fix the housing shortage. The housing shortage is artificial. There are plenty of empty units across the country. It's a distribution issue of: owners holding vacant units, people wanting/needing to live in specific locations, and individual preferences for bigger, fancier, better school, sfh, etc attributes. With an almost stagnate population growth this isn't really a building issue even if i…
Owners holding vacant units is not a significant cause of the housing shortage. Overly restrictive zoning and subjective reviews exploited by NIMBYs explains almost all of it.
You seem to be ignoring the main part of my statement - distribution and preferences matter. "NIMBYs" can't be a retort to that when NIMBY is by definition local - there are many other areas to build in across the country.
"Owners holding vacant units is not a significant cause of the housing shortage."
It may not be the biggest cause, but it is "significant". It is more pronounced in some markets and sectors (apartments).
It takes significantly less materials to build a multi-dwelling apartment/condo/townhouse structure than a single family home. In addition, the required square footage per person drops by huge amounts when people can walk to nearby community centers, restaurants, kitchens, theaters, and bars. We are building massive 3-4k sq. ft. homes for families of four because all of their food, entertainment, and social needs are…
I know it's hard to believe that many people are simply happier living in their own single family home and have little desire for the urban lifestyle.
Obviously someone who is familiar with the field but it's kind of strange that they compare these two technologies since they aren't used for the same construction. You've not going to use glulam and CLT to build your one story house. It's about building taller places.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know it's hard to believe that many people are simply happier living in their own single family home and have little desire for the urban lifestyle.
which is fine, if they are willing to pay the full cost of it. suburbia is massively subsidized.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
which is fine, if they are willing to pay the full cost of it. suburbia is massively subsidized.
Is it? Those same people work and pay taxes. If they couldn’t live in a city due to cost that city would have less revenue as a result of fewer employed people buying goods and services.
Implying that particular city job isn't subsidized. Bullshit jobs are mostly city jobs
Earlier quoted context omitted.
which is fine, if they are willing to pay the full cost of it. suburbia is massively subsidized.
> suburbia is massively subsidized That's a common argument that no one has been able to sufficiently prove.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53dd6676e4b0fedfbc26e...
I am building a house in a rural area, where land is cheap. Building is not. Timber is certainly expensive, but you know what else costs a lot? All the other stuff, much of it subject to state building codes that get more restrictive every year. Asbestos survey, assessment, abatement: $10k Asbestos air monitoring: $1k Tipping fees: 20k Spray foam insulation: $27k Foundation $50k Solar: 40k (not including rebates/ince…
> Tipping fees What is a tipping fee
I am building a house in a rural area, where land is cheap. Building is not. Timber is certainly expensive, but you know what else costs a lot? All the other stuff, much of it subject to state building codes that get more restrictive every year. Asbestos survey, assessment, abatement: $10k Asbestos air monitoring: $1k Tipping fees: 20k Spray foam insulation: $27k Foundation $50k Solar: 40k (not including rebates/ince…
If you are building from scratch, why do you need an asbestos survey? What are you surveying? And does your state really require spray foam insulation and solar? Or does it require an R-value for insulation and spray foam is the easiest way to get there with your design?
R-value required. This was the easiest/least expensive option.
Solar not required. If we didn't do it, we're paying ~$5k for power every year.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know it's hard to believe that many people are simply happier living in their own single family home and have little desire for the urban lifestyle.
Oh, I believe it. That's great! I don't mind that people who want to live like that CAN live like that if they can afford it. But it should not be the ONLY way people can live. Right now our laws prevent us from building affordable and livable homes like I mentioned above. Only the richest get to live in such communities.
Which laws are those?