Root cause of housing unaffordability

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/the-root-cause-of-america-s-housing-affordability-crisis-as-told-by-one-housing-policy-analyst/ar-AA1f9Geb?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=ef6bd72b9e4a4f0b8c95acd32e8691dc&ei=9

As many have probably figured out by now, this is a cause celebre for me. And as someone with an urban planning background, smart growth is the best solution. A solution that doesn't include exclusionary zoning and low supply, like most of the west coast, or sprawling out to kingdom come, like Houston.

'Round here, it's because housing is regarded as an investment opportunity rather than something for human beings to actually live in. Political orthodoxy says that the government must always encourage house prices to rise, rise, rise, rise, rise forever so that people who are lucky enough to already own a house will continue to make unearned profits on it. Meanwhile there's an ever-growing population who do not and will never own a home. Huge developments of "luxury flats" are going up everywhere, but most of them stand empty, bought and sold by money-launderers and foreign speculators who never set foot in the place.

The private rental industry is downright predatory, with extortionate rents, evictions, massive random rent increases and crooked slum landlords as standard. Letting agents seem a bit more respectable, but they screen out anyone with a precarious income, i.e. a very large proportion of people who actually need to rent. The ever-growing number of people on benefits or working zero-hours contracts because there aren't any real jobs these days? Sorry pal, not renting to you. Social housing is practically non-existant because "socialism bad." Most of the housing stock was sold off in the 1980s and never replaced.

There are many reasons for the housing crisis.

Low mortgage rates meant people were buying like crazy.

Covid shutdowns made materials expensive and raised the cost to build.

The move to remote work meant people could move out of high cost areas while maintaining good jobs.

People moving from high cost areas to cheaper areas.

Greater interest in investment properties.

Rent prices raising with inflation.

There are other reasons but those are a few off the top of my head.

I read the article and I understand what it says, but current homeowners rely on laws to keep themselves safe. Our neighborhood is far from fancy, but we've managed to keep the kids who walk to bus stops from being assaulted. Our city is small (St. Augustine, FL), we are not a destination for the majority of the US. There are a few vacant lots still available for building in what is a fairly old subdivision. Still, someone will manage to buy one to hide assets from a spouse they are planning on divorcing, only to let someone living in a refrigerated hauling truck squat there. Next thing you know there's a few people breaking down air conditioning units or TVs so they can harvest precious metals to hawk for money.
I'm sorry, I just don't see how anyone could be expected to turn a blind eye to things like that when they've worked hard and saved to afford the home they are in.
Build a Tent City in these wide open spaces, set up a soup kitchen within the Tent City. The problem with the homeless (other than being homeless) is that there's a whole set of behaviors that go along with them. They want/need to be near people, in order to survive. The more honest ones will ask for money, the less honest ones will steal or set up a scheme that results in eventual huge piles of refuse that they will not take responsibility for getting rid of.
Move THEM to the wide open spaces and open up housing for people who would like to work and be homeowners to the sprawls, with gradual moving inward (if they so desire). We shouldn't be required to turn the whole world into a dump (which would happen without zoning laws) so everyone can say they have a place to live. Some people LIKE living in squalor, as evidenced by the series HOARDERS. Put those people with each other... Homeless people like to collect things to make up for a lack of housing, that's fine. There's a whole other subset of people who are just pigs, put them together. They'll never even notice if their neighbor is a pig. I think people should be grouped by their levels of tidiness. If you're a poor person, but tidy, you get a nice little house in a clean neighborhood.
And house the criminals with the criminals...
We are separated by more than just income.

Kindly don't overgeneralize about homeless people.

Surely you've noticed that a non-negligible fraction of Wrong Planet users either are or have been homeless, and that many more Wrong Planet users have been in danger of becoming homeless???

Anyhow, no need to clutch your pearls. As you said, your city is "not a destination for the majority of the US" (and for good reason, IMO). Where we really, desperately need a substantial loosening of residential zoning laws is here in the northeast.

Last edited by Mona Pereth on 13 Aug 2023, 8:50 pm, edited 3 times in total.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/lahaina-residents-worry-a-rebuilt-maui-town-could-slip-into-the-hands-of-affluent-outsiders/ar-AA1fcWIr?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=4d24bc0b8acf431ba137b82392f45767&ei=13&fbclid=IwAR2bLhxVtYud6Kg5wWGMjzUcGJw3TcQTxkzjcH-x1MG2vMXdHdFNsTqEj0A

Gov. Green has a very good point about acquiring land for working-class housing. Other governors should follow suit.

There are many reasons for the recent acceleration of the housing crisis. But there has been an ever-growing shortage of housing for over four decades now -- at least in places with decent jobs and public transportation -- and it has basically just one main cause: restrictive residential zoning laws.

Getting rid of residential zoning laws entirely is probably not politically feasible. But, hopefully, at least here in the northeastern parts of the U.S.A., it might be possible to push for at least a significant loosening of residential zoning laws.

But this will require a LOT of us to push for it.

Unlike some other parts of the country, the northeast has plenty of room to grow in population. Unlike the southwest, for example, we don't have frequent water shortages. And the Pacific Northwest probably still has quite a bit of retrofitting to do to avoid being almost completely destroyed by the inevitable "Really Big One."

The US Is Ugly. THIS is Why. by Leeja Miller.



Excerpt from summary:

I'm a renter, and almost everyone I know rents. I can tell you right now, there is a growing homeless problem because rent has increased astronomically while wages have stagnated. I ultimately put the blame on the business community, and they can solve the problem if they raise wages and/or cap rent. That, or the government needs to step in and do it for them. No more of this bull$hit that people don't have any money because they don't want to work.

From a macro point of view financialization of housing is one of the main problem according to Leilani Farha, UN Special Rapporteur on Housing who made a documentary ("Push") to analyze the situation from a global perspective. All countries experiencing a housing crisis have one common denominator: financialization of housing ("commodifying" for investment by investment firms like Blackrock).

I have problems posting YouTube links but this is the link to the "Push" documentary.

It depends on what country a person is in. In the UK, there has been a chronic social housing shortage since the 1980's after there were many built in the 1960's & 1970's. Socialism suffered under Margaret Thatcher, the then prime minister in the 1980's, of the conservative party and has never recovered since.

Decades of policy of not building social housing, plus the 'right-to-buy' scheme (residents of social housing having the opportunity to buy the houses off of the government at a discounted price, after living in a particular place for a few years), has made the number of unoccupied & available social houses so low that you can wait up to a decade in a queue for one in some areas of the UK.

Similar issues in Canada and then some + housing is 40% more expensive here than in the USA so is much more of a crisis. We're proper f****d, IMO.

This. There are plenty of average income ($62k average salary in the city) & Above average income earners who are homeless/between homes. Living in their cars, trailers/campers/rv's, or parking their car somewhere and trekking into the woods just far enough for a peaceful sleep w/o harassment from police or security guards. People earning $70k/year can't afford to rent a 2 bedroom apartment these days IF they can even find one available as the rent price is greater than 100% of their after tax salary.

Just because someone is homeless doesn't mean they're problematic. It just means they're not blessed to live in a family home someone bought long ago (like me), or weren't able to buy before prices went NUTS, or their landlord renovicted them so they could jack the rent etc.

Yes, there are plenty of mental health/addicted homeless, too, but that's certainly not everyone these days. Not by a long shot. Families with little kids living in old rv's down by the river just trying to survive is the new normal.. same for singles opting to "live the van life," and retirees living in cars 1/2 the year and travelling for the Winter.

Totally agree and then some. As you've mentioned homelessness not only affects the poor, people with disabilities and the working poor but a daily growing portion of what we used to call the middle class (a disappearing act): untenured teachers sleeping in their cars, highly skilled professionals who, sometimes for good reasons, are estranged from their more fortunate family, people with PhDs and solid work experience who can't afford the skyrocketing rents because they are burdened by student loans. The list is growing everyday, every week, almost everywhere in the world.

All the while the living conditions for those who are not (yet) unhoused are getting more and more difficult. It's like a new fiefdom ruled by landlords for whom the rule of law doesn't apply - it's their way or the highway.

Last edited by Cornflake on 30 Sep 2023, 10:48 am, edited 1 time in total.: Fixed quoting

This is an excellent discussion. I have nothing to add but I enjoyed reading other people's contributions.