Mister_Lich t1_j4vnjse wrote
Reply to comment by DeadAssociate in Dutch Constitution to be amended to ban discrimination based on sexuality or disability by DutchBlob
You can build denser. Build more high-rises.
Yeah, when you run up against literal physical limitations, sometimes you have to choose between either having nice traditional-ish single family homes (or town-houses), or having more apartment/condo complexes - alternatively you cope with sky-high housing prices and a lack of ability for successive generations to have solid housing situations.
Most countries in the world don't have this problem though. The USA reeeeally doesn't.
DeadAssociate t1_j4wu722 wrote
sure we can. but we are a democracy, home ownership is over 60%, and no one is going to vote in any way to let the state take their home.
Mister_Lich t1_j4wzrfj wrote
Who said the state has to do this? Haven't you ever heard of like, selling houses?
Just allow developers to actually buy up land where 500 year old townhouses are and build highrise apartment complexes there. They'll buy out the owners of the land/houses that are willing to sell, and your city expands. This is literally how urbanization works.
You can't just indefinitely preserve all the ancient crap in a city just because it's pretty and then expect the city to never have issues with growth and modernization. Just literally allow people to bulldoze some of this stuff and invest in your city.
DeadAssociate t1_j4x84k4 wrote
to allow this the law needs to change, and this needs a vote. and the majority will vote no out of their best interest.
Mister_Lich t1_j4x8ypw wrote
Right, so it's entirely a self-inflicted issue of simply not being willing to build more housing. That's basically my whole point. Housing crises in the developed world are almost all because people just refuse to allow enough housing to be built, because the existing homeowners don't want to see their equity drop, or even just "stop going up as much," or worse yet, they'll claim it's to preserve historically relevant plots of dirt and bricks, and starve everyone else out.
Japan is a notable exception to this occurrence. They build more housing per capita than most developed countries, and the idea of housing being an investment rather than a commodity is not nearly as common there. As a result their real estate markets have been way flatter than most other developed countries. Also related is their national zoning laws which are amazing and every country should replicate them 1-to-1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfm2xCKOCNk
DeadAssociate t1_j4y63k5 wrote
well self inflicted upon the people that cant afford homes by the people that can.
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