<story><title>How did we create a society where we can’t afford to live in our own country?</title><url>http://blogs.harvard.edu/philg/2017/10/24/how-did-we-create-a-society-where-we-cant-afford-to-live-in-our-own-country/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>xapata</author><text>That lady may have purchased her place in order to have a sunlit garden. It&amp;#x27;s frustrating there&amp;#x27;s not an easy way for that housing development to simply compensate the gardener fairly for her loss of sunlight, along with everyone else nearby who is adversely affected. Of course, she could also be charged a fee for the benefits of increasing density -- more restaurant options, etc. -- according to how much she appreciates them. It&amp;#x27;s tough to calculate these things.&lt;p&gt;So many aspects of our society seem forced to either-or situations when some compromise would benefit all parties more.</text></item><item><author>Top19</author><text>Local control of housing and zoning should be taken away and placed at the State level or above. Over time that will probably become just as corrupt and it will need to revert to the local level again. I am amazed what people
will complain about on my Nextdoor group. There
is not one ounce of sacrifice in these people for even a 30 second increase in traffic or a change in the student:teacher ratio from 21:1 to 21.3:1. Maybe we’d have more money for schools if we didn’t keep having to deal with all the externalities developed by expensive housing and long commutes.&lt;p&gt;Reminds me of that lady in SF who opposed a housing development recently because she said it blocked the sunlight to her zucchini garden. Now many YIMBY groups are adopting the zucchini as their logo...</text></item><item><author>exabrial</author><text>&amp;quot;affordable housing without a government subsidy is becoming extinct.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Was recently in LA, had a very excited Uber driver tell he just bought a house near Topeka, KS and it was 4 bed, 3 bath, unfinished basement, 2 car garage for $95k, on a 3&amp;#x2F;4 acre. He was extremely excited about moving. That&amp;#x27;s a massive house. There is plenty of cheap housing elsewhere in the USA, you have to be willing relocate.&lt;p&gt;The title should be &amp;quot;How did relatively small areas in California in the grand scheme of the USA make housing so expensive most people can&amp;#x27;t live there?&amp;quot;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>malloryerik</author><text>Compensate her for her loss... Well, she&amp;#x27;s been very well compensated for all of the other people&amp;#x27;s work around her that has turned her property into a huge economic windfall for her while she was busy tending to her urban zucchini patch.&lt;p&gt;Land value tax, please.</text></comment>
<story><title>How did we create a society where we can’t afford to live in our own country?</title><url>http://blogs.harvard.edu/philg/2017/10/24/how-did-we-create-a-society-where-we-cant-afford-to-live-in-our-own-country/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>xapata</author><text>That lady may have purchased her place in order to have a sunlit garden. It&amp;#x27;s frustrating there&amp;#x27;s not an easy way for that housing development to simply compensate the gardener fairly for her loss of sunlight, along with everyone else nearby who is adversely affected. Of course, she could also be charged a fee for the benefits of increasing density -- more restaurant options, etc. -- according to how much she appreciates them. It&amp;#x27;s tough to calculate these things.&lt;p&gt;So many aspects of our society seem forced to either-or situations when some compromise would benefit all parties more.</text></item><item><author>Top19</author><text>Local control of housing and zoning should be taken away and placed at the State level or above. Over time that will probably become just as corrupt and it will need to revert to the local level again. I am amazed what people
will complain about on my Nextdoor group. There
is not one ounce of sacrifice in these people for even a 30 second increase in traffic or a change in the student:teacher ratio from 21:1 to 21.3:1. Maybe we’d have more money for schools if we didn’t keep having to deal with all the externalities developed by expensive housing and long commutes.&lt;p&gt;Reminds me of that lady in SF who opposed a housing development recently because she said it blocked the sunlight to her zucchini garden. Now many YIMBY groups are adopting the zucchini as their logo...</text></item><item><author>exabrial</author><text>&amp;quot;affordable housing without a government subsidy is becoming extinct.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Was recently in LA, had a very excited Uber driver tell he just bought a house near Topeka, KS and it was 4 bed, 3 bath, unfinished basement, 2 car garage for $95k, on a 3&amp;#x2F;4 acre. He was extremely excited about moving. That&amp;#x27;s a massive house. There is plenty of cheap housing elsewhere in the USA, you have to be willing relocate.&lt;p&gt;The title should be &amp;quot;How did relatively small areas in California in the grand scheme of the USA make housing so expensive most people can&amp;#x27;t live there?&amp;quot;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>fraserharris</author><text>You&amp;#x27;re implying that in purchasing a property you acquire a perpetual right to the sunlight that exists on the day you purchased.  There is no such right.  If this gardener wanted to retain that sunlight, they should have purchased the lot next door, put a building-height covenant on it, and resold it.  They would incur a loss due to the covenant, but that is the cost of legally gaining the right to that sunlight.</text></comment>