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Comment by clipradiowallet | Hacker News Reader

> What if government policy for the last few decades had been to keep housing as affordable as possible.

> So if average rent in a city started increasing, the government would make sure new apartments and got built and/or expanded roads and public transit

How? Should they...raise taxes? Subsidize housing(and pay for it by raising taxes)? Take from the people who produce much, and give to the people who produce less? I'm not implying it's right or wrong, I'm genuinely curious as to "how" government should go about accomplishing that goal.

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If rents start increasing, then investors will build new housing. All the city has to do is approve the permits.

>Take from the people who produce much, and give to the people who produce less?

Maybe? Depends if you want to avoid this situation:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/77/8f/07/778f07ec78b997b4f218...

Is this difficult, getting approval? I don't live in a large city where the idea of building permits really comes into mind, so I don't have much experience in what could be involved there.

For some contrast, I live in the "rural" US, my home is surrounded on 4 sides by farm fields as far as you can see. This is like peering into an alien bureaucracy for me.

Difficult is an understatement. You have to hire the right lawyers who know the right people who can direct you to make the right donations. And if you need a variance, you can 100x the difficulty. It’s a political game, and everyone wants a cut. Not to mention fighting the people who don’t want change in their neighborhoods or congestion on the roads.

And in the meantime, you might also be stuck paying property taxes or fees on a contract to purchase the land that you need extended because the zoning board meeting ran too late and they couldn’t get to your permit.

People don’t understand what it takes to develop property in already occupied areas, and why developers only build “luxury” housing. There’s a reason rents and land prices are high.

Difficult? Yes, a billion times yes.

Most of the stress on land comes from exclusionary laws. People with power don’t want poorer people (and especially people of another race) to live near them—attributing their success to their efforts and labeling their own servants as parasites[1] and deadbeats—and pass laws that make housing affordability impossible. Thus, people need to drive long distances to jobs and live in disinvested communities in order to participate in regional economies.

The worst offenders are actually not cities, but the inner suburbs surrounding cities. Cities are filled with guilty settlers who want to help less fortunate people but are unable to let go of the systems of power, while their suburbs are usually created for the purpose of segregation and repeatedly reaffirm their desire for segregation.[2]

[1] https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/272/365/

[2] https://www.greenbelt.org/blog/vote-no-on-measure-y-to-provi...

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