The long-term solution is the solution that nobody wants, which is to allow a whole bunch more housing of all types and forms. I’m not talking about an “affordable housing project” here or there. I’m talking about permitting the construction of tens or hundreds of thousands of new market rate units of all shapes and sizes. Allow SROs. Allow triple-deckers again. Allow dense, small, cheap housing.

Do you want this on your block? Do you want somebody to tear down the single family home on the lot next to you and build a 50 unit apartment on it? Do you want your block of single-family homes to be demolished and turned into triple-deckers?

Everybody says they want to do something about the cost of housing, but nobody wants it on their street. Nobody wants it on their block. Nobody wants it in their neighborhood.

Imagine you’re a 46 year old guy with a criminal record and a manageable heroin addiction. Realistically, where are you going to live? Where people like this lived in the past is an SRO. Cheap, single rooms often with shared kitchens and bathrooms. It’s not luxurious, but it’s better than the street.

And it’s basically illegal to build. And if somebody proposed one on your block, the statistical likelihood is that you would oppose it. So people talk about cheaper housing, but for the most part, they are not at all serious about doing what it would take to make that happen over time.