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Originally Posted by dreambrother808
Are we really so averse to more socialist ideas? The Vienna example sounds great to me. We should be moving immediately in that direction, building previously unimaginable amounts of affordable housing for lower and middle class people. I prefer that to the Berlin model. Deterring development doesn’t work. Relying on the private sector to provide for the greater good doesn’t either.
Label something socialist, capitalist, or whatever. All that matters is that it gets the job done. The tools in your toolbox don’t need to all fit under the same stifling ideology.
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I think we do a lot of skirting around the issues here in North America. Were also very partisan in general.
Lets acknowledge a few points first;
- Private developers are for profit business'. Like any other business, if the numbers turn red, project does not go forward.
- Housing has become an institutional asset class. Pension funds, Insurance Co's, etc are primary financiers of the new mega projects that are becoming the norm. The success of these projects, and long term viability of the assumptions being made going into them is based around stability. Stability can be bought, like any other political viewpoint. Stability is status quo.
- The housing crisis that cities are experiencing is a direct result of regulation and a concerted effort to skirt around the issues, instead of addressing them head on.
- Zoning laws are archaic - we are artificially limiting housing during a time where its severely affecting the population, all in the name of one too many pieces of paper filed away somewhere. Whats more important? Adhering to a zoning law or providing housing for tens of thousands of people? This isn't hypothetical, we are prioritizing bureaucracy over human well being.
- Cities will never again have an adequately fast response to housing demand simply due to the building process slowing down even further due to complexity of projects. Simple fact is a concrete tower takes 36 months, or longer. Back in the day a Vancouver Special could be started and finished in 6 months.
- Demand continues to increase globally as the trend of migration from country side into Cities continues. Locally, immigration growth under the current Feds is only increasing. Its literally impossible to accommodate more people when our cities are generally all in low single digit vacancy situation. There simply is NOT and abundance of empty housing. Its infinitely frustrating that people are able to be pro-immigration while being NIMBY about development. You cant have both.
- The solution to this has always been the same. Its just not palatable to the everyone wants to have their cake and eat it too crowd.