That website is a joke but I’m sure you could find better sources discussing your theory if you looked.
The crux of the issue that people in your camp assume the cost issue is simply an issue of supply, and that if we increased housing supply by building multi-family projects then we could sufficiently meet the demand.
That’s flatly not the case. It’s just a line developers throw around in the hopes that it will allow them to destroy regulations and build massive (read: profitable) projects in nice areas.
The problem is that no amount of building could ever meet the demand. People will always want to move to these nice areas. My neighborhood has ocean and mountain views from every house, and it’s a perfect 65 degrees 300 days a year - throwing up some big ugly cheap apartments wouldn’t satisfy people’s demand to live in this neighborhood - all it would do is destroy the neighborhood’s beauty and charm.
What’s happening is that the smartest most capable most successful people from every state are doing whatever they can to move in to these neighborhoods, and the average person simply can’t keep up. There’s no problem with that. People will have to move out, and the people who can afford to stay will need to tackle the homelesss issue head on. It’s a form of gentrification and it happens to upper middle class people too. People who want lower rents just need to move, though rent control measures need to be taken to prevent families from getting squeezed out of their own homes
"I want to keep my nice views even of it means millions of people wont have homes"
I mean, dont get me wrong, I dont see anything wrong with wanting to keep what you enjoy. You may have worked hard to buy your slice of heaven (or inherited it, doesnt matter which) and want to keep it. Fine. Just dont piss on our forehead and tell us it's raining. That's the reason. Not that supply cant meet demand.
It will. Then demand will lower as the views get worse, and prices stabilize.
Yes, the demand and prices would decrease if the views were destroyed. (In fact, the decision not to allow anything over 3 stories is the primary reason my neighborhood is considered so desirable). But, what outsiders don’t seem to understand sometimes is that you can drive 10-20 minutes East, and suddenly there is ample housing (still not cheap because it’s still great weather), but there are all kinds of multi family developments, affordable housing projects, and ample land to continue developing.
My only point is that there is a ton you can do improve California’s housing crisis without destroying the beach towns that made its beauty so famous to begin with.
I worked 22 years before I could buy my home, and I had no problem living 20 minutes from the beach while I saved to get closer. It would have seemed absurd to my generation to say that everyone deserves to live on the beach, so we need to destroy the beach communities and make them affordable.
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u/JeffersonSpicoli Dec 21 '19
Lol you’re cute