Yeah and my leech dropped rents $500 as soon as she had 3 empty units. She wasn't keeping them artificially empty or charging more than people would pay. Limited market availability meant she could charge absurd amounts. People moving our because of Covid created the same effect as just building more housing.
You are literally describing a scenario where the problem with affordability isn't that there isn't enough housing, but that the housing is owned by a rich person who will charge you as much as they possibly can to live there.
Lotta libs here suddenly pro-market when it comes to housing lol
They can charge as much as they want because there's not enough.
When the demand for housing in the Bay dropped precipitously after Covid and people not needing to pay those prices for the sake of their commutes, the prices went down.
We literally live under capitalism. All landlords are not a cartel. Demand affects prices. Supply affects prices.
Look man, you can build your market housing. I can tell you the future though. Rich people will buy them and either keep them vacant as an investment or rent them so you can pay their mortgage and secure their wealth with yours.
Housing prices and rents will continue to rise and poor people will continue to struggle for a dignified existence.
As long as rich people are permitted to use housing as an investment they will continue to do so, artificially inflating the price of housing by maintaining scarcity (which is fine for them because they can afford the prices and they're guaranteed to continue to go up).
Since most everyday people can't compete with the rich for housing, the downstream effect of this is the maintenance of an artificially high rental pool, which as you mentioned, puts pressure on the system that keeps rents high.
Work to decommodify housing comrade. Housing is a human right and shouldn't be subject to market perversion.
I'll tell you how the current approach of urban leftists opposing market rate housing is going to turn out: everything you said about my future, but faster and worse. And when it's all over and the dust has settled, the evictions and the displacement will have been more total and more complete.
Single family exclusive zoning creates artificial scarcity. That's what I devote most of my energy to fighting. 75 percent of SF is zoned for single family. The parts that aren't? Historically black and brown neighborhoods. It makes no sense. No wonder development in the few areas it's allowed is so intensive and expensive. No wonder the displacement is so severe when the only place new multi-unit housing is allowed is in minority neighborhoods. Leaving discretionary power in the hands of wealthy white planning commissions made (almost always) of realtors means you design your city to benefit realtors. The reason that new development has a pool and a gym and a "community space" isn't to attract residents, it's to get past the planning commissions. The planning commissions who will deny their requested variances at the slightest hint that the housing being built won't be the most premium and attract only rich white couples.
So I devote my local political energy to fighting spot and exclusionary zoning, advocating for the development of housing in my wealthy suburb, legalizing public housing, and enacting rent control and eviction protections.
I'll be happy for us all when we get the revolution, but I'm not going to uphold the status quo in the meantime.
Yeah and my leech dropped rents $500 as soon as she had 3 empty units. She wasn't keeping them artificially empty or charging more than people would pay. Limited market availability meant she could charge absurd amounts. People moving our because of Covid created the same effect as just building more housing.
You are literally describing a scenario where the problem with affordability isn't that there isn't enough housing, but that the housing is owned by a rich person who will charge you as much as they possibly can to live there.
Lotta libs here suddenly pro-market when it comes to housing lol
They can charge as much as they want because there's not enough.
When the demand for housing in the Bay dropped precipitously after Covid and people not needing to pay those prices for the sake of their commutes, the prices went down.
We literally live under capitalism. All landlords are not a cartel. Demand affects prices. Supply affects prices.
Look man, you can build your market housing. I can tell you the future though. Rich people will buy them and either keep them vacant as an investment or rent them so you can pay their mortgage and secure their wealth with yours.
Housing prices and rents will continue to rise and poor people will continue to struggle for a dignified existence.
As long as rich people are permitted to use housing as an investment they will continue to do so, artificially inflating the price of housing by maintaining scarcity (which is fine for them because they can afford the prices and they're guaranteed to continue to go up).
Since most everyday people can't compete with the rich for housing, the downstream effect of this is the maintenance of an artificially high rental pool, which as you mentioned, puts pressure on the system that keeps rents high.
Work to decommodify housing comrade. Housing is a human right and shouldn't be subject to market perversion.
I'll tell you how the current approach of urban leftists opposing market rate housing is going to turn out: everything you said about my future, but faster and worse. And when it's all over and the dust has settled, the evictions and the displacement will have been more total and more complete.
Single family exclusive zoning creates artificial scarcity. That's what I devote most of my energy to fighting. 75 percent of SF is zoned for single family. The parts that aren't? Historically black and brown neighborhoods. It makes no sense. No wonder development in the few areas it's allowed is so intensive and expensive. No wonder the displacement is so severe when the only place new multi-unit housing is allowed is in minority neighborhoods. Leaving discretionary power in the hands of wealthy white planning commissions made (almost always) of realtors means you design your city to benefit realtors. The reason that new development has a pool and a gym and a "community space" isn't to attract residents, it's to get past the planning commissions. The planning commissions who will deny their requested variances at the slightest hint that the housing being built won't be the most premium and attract only rich white couples.
So I devote my local political energy to fighting spot and exclusionary zoning, advocating for the development of housing in my wealthy suburb, legalizing public housing, and enacting rent control and eviction protections.
I'll be happy for us all when we get the revolution, but I'm not going to uphold the status quo in the meantime.