<story><title>California’s affordable housing problem is really a national one</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/business/economy/california-housing-crisis.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>tqi</author><text>Why is this always framed as a problem caused by people looking for a place to live?&lt;p&gt;I moved to SF for a job. I&amp;#x27;m not the one who decided to not build enough new housing for 30 years. I&amp;#x27;m not the one who decided to approve all those new office buildings. Yet I was the problem for renting an overpriced apartment from an SF native who bought in the 90s, and now pays less than $8K&amp;#x2F;yr in taxes on a place worth over $1M. And now I&amp;#x27;m still the problem if I decide to leave?</text></comment>
<story><title>California’s affordable housing problem is really a national one</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/business/economy/california-housing-crisis.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>asdff</author><text>Nowhere is building enough housing for growth. In low cost of living places, chances are if you look at population data, the metro region has been stagnant for decades which has alleviated pressure on supply. In any area with growth at all, prices rise because we don&amp;#x27;t build actual dense housing like we did before WWII (when row houses and mixed use development in walking distance to frequent public transit were the norm everywhere from Manhattan to Los Angeles to downtown Boise, Idaho). We build either tracts of single family homes by clearcutting wildlands adjacent to freeways, or far too little apartments in a single 4-5 story building spanning an entire city block.&lt;p&gt;In comparison to a block of 4-5 story row homes, these apartment builds are a compromise and will come back to bite planners in the coming decades as construction costs continue to rise. Since it&amp;#x27;s a single building, you can&amp;#x27;t redevelop this structure without leveling the entire block. That makes it impossible to do unless you are a deep pocketed development corporation, versus a row house that could be owned outright by an individual and redeveloped by that individual to meet the market demand of the growing city.</text></comment>