8letters' Economic and Social Policy thread

[Philthy_Phil]

Donald Trump is an orange homo.

 

[astuffedshirt_perv]

I wish the article was clearer on exactly how chaining works. It sounds like when a 100 new market-rate apartments are opened for rent, people generally move into them from nice-but-not-as-nice apartments, which creates openings in those apartments. Over time, 30 people will move from living with their parents or a roommate into one of the vacancies created by chain apartment upgrades. Eventually, the chain terminates at apartments in lower-income neighborhoods. Sadly, the article doesn't say what happens there.

Housing is my jam. You may want to look at https://www.theurbanist.org/2021/06...underscore-benefits-of-building-more-housing/ for another take. I could bury you with mounds of research on housing policy!

As other have pointed out, supply and demand works, even for housing. However, adding supply generally runs up against the interests of existing landowners, who like their neighborhoods very much, thank you. They don't want the additional cars clogging up the streets and hogging parking, etc. Thus they NIMBY new construction, and worse, they vote at much higher rates than renters. Politicians listen. Supply gets constrained, rents go up.

The end result: by restricting new housing in my neighborhood/town/city, my neighborhood remains like it was when I bought in. However, if every town does this, a growing population has no avenue to find housing, rents and housing prices climb, and all of us end up impoverished.

Fortunately, YIMBY activism is winning victories all across the US. WOOT CA YIMBYs! https://cayimby.org/2023-legislation/

PS Greedflation is a load of crap.

 

[Chernosoth]

One thing that Soviet Russia did awesomely right is using the waste heat of power plants for home heating. That would be an easy hookup for cities anywhere with coal or natgas plants. We don't have that here because electricity and heat are billed separately for more profit. But multitasking and conserving energy will become more necessary. So I'm not particularly worried about housing. The more basic resources needed for survival will be scarcer: water, food, and fuel.

 

[butters]

in the private housing market, too, i would say: greedflation has always been an element... buyers want to purchase as low as possible, sellers as high as they can. often the two are the same person, the one who complains about the price of housing yet holds out for higher and higher bids on their own.

sometimes this is driven by real house-price inflation (a lack of new building for an ever-growing population/increased demand for a static stock), but other times when a seller doesn't even need to raise money for a new home but are simply selling off stock they will STILL look to gain the highest price in most instances. Realtors looking to increase their own sales bonuses are all too eager to help.

 

[Fuzzy1975]

^^^^ ... vvvv

Well of you want an A/H thread to die, this is the place to out it....*chuckles*