A Simple Solution to Housing Crisis in some Major Cities

[Dylar]

Please quote where I said that everyone was like me and wanted to move to a small town.

It’s simply not a viable solution. Many small towns have little to no opportunity.

I mean, what are we defining for a "small town"
population size? and if it's this, whats the limit on how many people need to live there to call it a small town?

[Neanderthaland]

It’s just not practical for everyone to move to a small town.

Not everyone has to.

But if some people do, it would take some pressure off the housing supply.

I keep waiting for the combination of work-from-home infrastructure and easy online shopping to trigger a migration to the countryside. But so far it hasn't happened.

[New Zoigai]

Local officials like to talk about the housing crisis in major cities yet there are simple steps they could take to solve it.

First ban Airbnb. This would instantly free up tons of housing as too many use it simply to make money denying housing to people.

Build only affordable housing. Deny the permits for eyesores like 432 park avenue.

Maybe have rent control for everyone.

Supply and demand is always discussed. Build more supply. All this is way to simple therefore no city will ever do it. We must overcomplicate everything.

What do you think NSG?

Not necessary. There are many vacant spots for homeless people but it's in the interest of the foundations getting grants to help those people to keep them homeless so they can keep making money.

[Rhodevus]

definitely fix zoning laws. Less sprawling suburbs. Build more infrastructure services (trains, busses, subways, walking/biking paths). If commercial and residential and able to be built in closer proximity, like most older downtown areas of cities, it reduces travel time, and opens up travel networks for those that need to go into the cities for work. Same with reducing/stop building such sprawling suburbs. They are horribly inefficient in housing people, take up a lot of space, energy and money, for little to no benefit. And improving travel infrastructure makes it easier for those outside the cities to travel into it for work, reducing the number of people looking for housing in the cities themselves.

And of course, ban companies that buy up properties and turn them into rental units. Not so much air BnB when used by people, but remove the companies that their sole purpose is to buy houses and residential buildings to turn into rentals.

I don’t see the problem with rent. The issue is the rent is too damm high because of greed. Why not have rent control for everyone?

AirBnb has taken many apartments off the market contributing to the shortage.

it always has to do with greed. It's still important to reduce the number of rental properties, because when rental companies essentially have a monopoly, they can jack up the prices. More bought and sold residences helps with that. And it's also just better for more people to own their own places.

Improving transportation networks I feel, is key to improving the housing crisis above pretty much all else, because people can and do travel into the cities for work (hence why people want to live in said cities in the first place). If travel improves, then there is less of a need to live in the city itself.

Well, I guess to that end, increasing the number of work-at-home jobs, rather than office work, could help a bit as well.

[The Sherpa Empire]

Or just educate people about the possibilities that already exist in smaller towns. We don't have as many jobs, but we also don't have as many people competing for jobs, so the end result is that you actually can find a job in a lot of small towns.

A little over a year ago, I moved to one of the most rural economically depressed parts of upstate NY. Basically every town up here has seen the population decline over the last 50 years. It still took less than a month to find a job.

My coworkers sometimes eat wild beavers, dash out of work to go home and check on their cows, etc. but I own my own house for the first time and things are okay.
Beaver Guy and Cow Guy are nice people. They're just rural.

My parents live in a small rural town. It is economically depressed and there are only two types of jobs there - poultry processing and commercial agriculture. There isn't even a Wal-Mart.

The poultry processing plant pays minimum wage. It is run by overseas nationals from a country where things like PTO or benefits like health insurance don't exist. Bare minimum of PTO and no benefits to speak of.

The alternative is agriculture. The family farms have collapsed due to being unable to compete with the large commercial outfits, and the large commercial outfits mostly hire foreigners from a labor bureau for the menial work. The only openings available to Americans are for farm managers and skilled positions like diesel mechanics, but those are limited.

I can get a bigger paycheck and more benefits doing construction or arborist work in a big city. Or working as a roughneck in an oil town.

I'm genuinely happy you have discovered a small town that's affordable, where jobs are abundant. But you have to understand, many small towns in places like Oklahoma and the Deep South do not have these advantages at all. They are dependent on a single industry or industries where the jobs are consistently crap, which is why they're hemorrhaging people.

Those oil towns are still small rural places. They're not for me, but probably worth a look for some folks.

But yeah... The Midwest and upstate NY are actually more affordable than the South after you account for local incomes. Sometimes it is useful to have the New York City people screaming at your state government about labor laws and living wages and that sort of thing.

[The Sherpa Empire]

Please quote where I said that everyone was like me and wanted to move to a small town.

It’s simply not a viable solution. Many small towns have little to no opportunity.

That's not what I asked you for.

[Huaren Gongsi state]

I love the singapore HDB

[The Black Forrest]

I don’t see the problem with rent. The issue is the rent is too damm high because of greed. Why not have rent control for everyone?

You trust the government to put a cap on rent?

Depends on the government. Berkeley has kept 19000 units in a rent control formula.

Goverments may have too as in their greed they thought the low wage/low education jobs would always be filled. Many of those jobs; at least near me; aren’t going to be filled any time soon.

[San Lumen]

I don’t see the problem with rent. The issue is the rent is too damm high because of greed. Why not have rent control for everyone?

AirBnb has taken many apartments off the market contributing to the shortage.

it always has to do with greed. It's still important to reduce the number of rental properties, because when rental companies essentially have a monopoly, they can jack up the prices. More bought and sold residences helps with that. And it's also just better for more people to own their own places.

Improving transportation networks I feel, is key to improving the housing crisis above pretty much all else, because people can and do travel into the cities for work (hence why people want to live in said cities in the first place). If travel improves, then there is less of a need to live in the city itself.

Well, I guess to that end, increasing the number of work-at-home jobs, rather than office work, could help a bit as well.

And where are many young and less well off people supposed to get the money to afford to buy an apartment?

[American Legionaries]

Not everyone has to.

But if some people do, it would take some pressure off the housing supply.

I keep waiting for the combination of work-from-home infrastructure and easy online shopping to trigger a migration to the countryside. But so far it hasn't happened.

Amazon is grand-fucking-tastic. Shit, I went nearly a year during Covid with having face-to-face contact with a grand total of four people.

[Cannot think of a name]

Not everyone has to.

But if some people do, it would take some pressure off the housing supply.

I keep waiting for the combination of work-from-home infrastructure and easy online shopping to trigger a migration to the countryside. But so far it hasn't happened.

But it did.

[Page]

"Oh my God, the day has come, Lumen has embraced the revolution!"

*opens thread*

"Meh."

[Kerwa]

Yurts. We should all live in yurts under the eternal blue sky. It would solve all of our problems.

[El Lazaro]

"Oh my God, the day has come, Lumen has embraced the revolution!"

*opens thread*

"Meh."

Stop the tourists! Make rich people build somewhat shorter buildings! Stuff the poors into their own neighborhoods! Maybe ask landleeches to set slightly less extortionate robbery rates, pretty please? If we took all these steps, the housing situation would more or less be the same in the long run, but I feel like my ideas are revolutionary and defiant!!!

Yurts. We should all live in yurts under the eternal blue sky. It would solve all of our problems.

Sadly, this won’t be done because it’s too simple and objectively correct. The crazy, stupid politicians don’t realize that society would be hundreds of years into the future/past/whatever if we just did it, and humanity is going to be ruined because we refused to heed the wisdom of our Mongolian allies’ architecture.

[Rhodevus]

it always has to do with greed. It's still important to reduce the number of rental properties, because when rental companies essentially have a monopoly, they can jack up the prices. More bought and sold residences helps with that. And it's also just better for more people to own their own places.

Improving transportation networks I feel, is key to improving the housing crisis above pretty much all else, because people can and do travel into the cities for work (hence why people want to live in said cities in the first place). If travel improves, then there is less of a need to live in the city itself.

Well, I guess to that end, increasing the number of work-at-home jobs, rather than office work, could help a bit as well.

And where are many young and less well off people supposed to get the money to afford to buy an apartment?

I'm not saying people can't rent. just that the rental monopolies need to end in order to reduce rent in general. Lower rent means greater likelihood of increasing wealth. Increased wealth increases likelihood of being able to afford a home, or at least a down payment on a home. Not saying 100% of people will be able to own homes, just an overall increase in home ownership.

Similarly, if people are able to buy homes in cheaper areas outside of the cities, and then commute to work in a manner that doesn't result in 2+ hours driving in a car each way to work, that helps too.

Fixing wealth discrepancies of young and less well-off people is also an issue, but a tangential one. Fixing education systems, increasing minimum wage, reducing taxes on people below a certain income level, and increasing taxes on the super-wealthy and hyper-wealthy. Improving healthcare systems. In the US, it would mean introducing a universal healthcare. In Canada, it would mean expanding our universal healthcare (can't speak for other countries, since I don't know how their systems work). Plenty of stuff can be done to help young and less well-off people. But it also isn't really the main point of the thread, and not really what I'm trying to answer. Helping to reduce the housing crisis doesn't mean everyone is able to afford homes in the cities they want to live, but makes it more reasonable for a good percentage of people to not need to live in the cities-proper (travel infrastructure upgrades) or by improving quality of life and income (rent reduction).

There will always be people unable to afford to live exactly where they want. Hence the issue of housing in the first place. It's how to help the most people, even if it's not helping the lowest on the metaphorical totem pole. Sounds callous and it very much is. But those are the reasonable solutions I can think of, without an entire overhaul of pretty much every public service sector in the country

[Ifreann]

What is "affordable housing" to a person with only the clothes on their back?

[HISPIDA]

i believe the best solution is to ban the NIMBY movement

[Floofybit]

What is "affordable housing" to a person with only the clothes on their back?

A job

[Ifreann]

What is "affordable housing" to a person with only the clothes on their back?

A job

Thinking of reinventing company towns, are you?

[HISPIDA]

What is "affordable housing" to a person with only the clothes on their back?

A job

a job that requires you to list your current place of residence, might require you to have skills or education you're unable to learn, may require personal transportation, and not to mention the inherent bias against poor and homeless people in american consciousness?

this is the same fucking mental process as "you're homeless? just buy a house!"

it's fucking repulsive.

[Floofybit]

A job

a job that requires you to list your current place of residence, might require you to have skills or education you're unable to learn, may require personal transportation, and not to mention the inherent bias against poor and homeless people in american consciousness?

this is the same fucking mental process as "you're homeless? just buy a house!"

it's fucking repulsive.

I wasn't saying it would just happen on its own. They need to be GIVEN jobs

[San Lumen]

a job that requires you to list your current place of residence, might require you to have skills or education you're unable to learn, may require personal transportation, and not to mention the inherent bias against poor and homeless people in american consciousness?

this is the same fucking mental process as "you're homeless? just buy a house!"

it's fucking repulsive.

I wasn't saying it would just happen on its own. They need to be GIVEN jobs

Salt Lake City created a program where they built housing for the homeless and helped them with addiction and getting jobs. As a result they mostly eliminated the city's problem with homelessness.

[Floofybit]

I wasn't saying it would just happen on its own. They need to be GIVEN jobs

Salt Lake City created a program where they built housing for the homeless and helped them with addiction and getting jobs. As a result they mostly eliminated the city's problem with homelessness.

That's great

[Partybus]

Recently Vermont has been repurposing old hotels and motels into affordable housing...

Of course George Carlin nails it with his "Golf courses for the homeless" bit. (he does the NIMBY thing first...)

https://youtu.be/AbSRCjG-VLk

[Ifreann]

a job that requires you to list your current place of residence, might require you to have skills or education you're unable to learn, may require personal transportation, and not to mention the inherent bias against poor and homeless people in american consciousness?

this is the same fucking mental process as "you're homeless? just buy a house!"

it's fucking repulsive.

I wasn't saying it would just happen on its own. They need to be GIVEN jobs

No they don't.