Talk:Solving Housing
It might be interesting to ask people & find out why everyone thinks housing is so expensive. Is it simply lack of supply? If so, why? Because construction is unattractive? Shouldn't that simply bid up pay, and draw in more people?
I informally talked about this with some people at the last FBCC, and reasons given ranged from "bank loans are too expensive" to "quality expectations are too high" to "too many layers of indirection/management in the construction process (i.e. non-integrated building process)" and more.
Depending on what we think the reasons for the housing crisis are, the solution(s) might look different.
-- Goto
I’d say the reasons are mainly:
1.) For Some (People and Investment Groups), Housing has turned into a Financial Asset / Means of “Getting Rich Quick” ( Rent Seeking and all that) rather than a ‘’’means of Housing People’’’
This has the issues of any measures to reduce property values to something affordable “ruining that investment” for those that DO have one, and the construction of affordable housing that doesn’t require (at least EXTREME) rent is seen as “non-profitable”
Hence why the bit of Missing Middle housing that IS being built is Gentrified “Luxury Apartments”, and the rest is all large Single Family Homes in Car Dependent Suburbs.
2.) Construction Labor/Materials Cost vs Median / Average / Lower End Incomes aren’t lining up well. Granted CITATION NEEDED, but yeah
3.) Finally this is a bit more tangential than DIRECTLY responsible, but i think it boils down to It’s a Feature, Not a Bug wherin short of the sCaRy/Disruptive type of Unhoused People, to an extent, having an Underclass that is “motivated” to do all the dirty/dangerous/difficult jobs required to “keep the machine running”…due to that Job being the difference between Eviction and having a place to sleep at night is an important means to keep Wages, Safety, and Working Conditions/Work Life Balance low, and Profits High. If you loose “fear of basic needs being met” as a motivator, you either need something akin to Hazard Pay / a Nonsense Job Fee / Dirty Job Fee OR you need to make things better for the worker (both of which eat away at profits that otherwise go straight to the top)
ALL IN ALL other factors definitely play a role (Interest Rates, Construction Economics, Regulatory Constraints, etc), but the fundamental way the system is designed is to push it to where it is now, short of intense regulatory “control rods”, the pile of uranium is going to go (super)critical. So either intense regulation or alternative systems entirely are the only “TRUE” solution, although things such as OBI’s work may still help, especially in other ways. TLDR we won’t “SOLVE HOUSING FOREVER EVERYWHERE!”, but along with more “boring” regulatory action etc may play a role in it gradually getting better.