Villaraigosa and Newsom want to build more houses in California than ever before. Experts see the candidates' goal as an (Beverly Hills: apartments, loans)

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

You can't say stuff like that in isolation. That's now how housing works. If you don't build the skyscraper, then the people with money will outbid other people for more mundane housing choices. Of course building skyscrapers isn't THE solution (as if there's only one option), but they can be part of the solution. You have to look at the whole picture.

It used to be lower paid workers could afford a studio apartment. Now they're being occupied by young salaried, professionals. It now requires 2 professional salaries to buy a 3BR 2BA tract house. These were houses built for more working class folks that were often affordable on one good income. This is the effect of not building enough new housing--of any kind.

You don't need to fill Los Angeles with skyscrapers. But putting them in downtown L.A. where there are already skyscrapers, makes a lot of sense from an infrastructure and aesthetic standpoint.

This whole NIMBY mentality of "housing will always be too expensive so just don't do anything" is just a lame excuse to keep the status quo. You pretty much get people saying this no matter what type of housing is proposed. "Oh, it's low density. That promotes sprawl." "Oh it's a high density skyscraper--that's too expensive to build". Excuses, excuses, excuses.

The irony in places like San Francisco is that overly tenant friendly laws are actually backfiring against the very tenants they're supposed to help. An article several years back estimated SF may have as many as 10,000 vacant rental units because landlords are skittish about dealing with problem tenants, who are very difficult and expensive to evict.

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Your post actually shows some of the problems. You can't build houses fast enough or skyscrapers fast enough and ... the cost is high and will not bring down prices at all. Read the preceding few posts and see the costs and reality. Frustrating for low paid workers, yes, but it is life today. Gov't policy just makes it worse in so many ways. yes some laws are good and needed, but laws will not fix the problem. Make enough money, problem fixed, don't make enough and life will not be easy. Builders and landlords are not stupid. They are in business to make money just like everyone else. If they don't they are ... homeless.

[FirebirdCamaro1220]

Originally Posted by expatCA

Your post actually shows some of the problems. You can't build houses fast enough or skyscrapers fast enough and ... the cost is high and will not bring down prices at all. Read the preceding few posts and see the costs and reality. Frustrating for low paid workers, yes, but it is life today. Gov't policy just makes it worse in so many ways. yes some laws are good and needed, but laws will not fix the problem. Make enough money, problem fixed, don't make enough and life will not be easy. Builders and landlords are not stupid. They are in business to make money just like everyone else. If they don't they are ... homeless.

Prices may not drop, but it can stop prices from rising further. Again, supply and demand does work

[SportyandMisty]

"Ask not what the Country can do for the homeless. Ask what can the homeless do for the Country."

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by FirebirdCamaro1220

Prices may not drop, but it can stop prices from rising further. Again, supply and demand does work

The prices are already too high for a large number of people so having them flatten won't help. Prices will always rise as inflation impacts homes to as well as demand. The only way to flatten or even drop prices would be to over build and you can't. Think how many now would buy if the prices dropped??? The supply would disappear. No builder is going to lose money to even flatten prices as their costs go up as well. The popular areas will always go to those with enough money and those without will not be able to buy or even eventually rent. Am I happy with that, no, but it is reality.

Get all your friends and supporters together, gather all the money you can and start building houses at a lower price. See how it works.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by SportyandMisty

"Ask not what the Country can do for the homeless. Ask what can the homeless do for the Country."

They are doing it. Now the "what" they are doing may not be what anyone wants, but they are doo-doing it.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by jm1982

Plenty of housing if people are willing and able to pay market prices .

Thing is people want to live in SF for and L.A for cheap and feel they are entitled to do so .

The variation of the NIMBY attitude is the "let 'em eat cake" attitude. This in a state that purports to care about the working and middle class, who have been priced out of the most basic of housing.

[FirebirdCamaro1220]

Originally Posted by expatCA

The prices are already too high for a large number of people so having them flatten won't help. Prices will always rise as inflation impacts homes to as well as demand. The only way to flatten or even drop prices would be to over build and you can't. Think how many now would buy if the prices dropped??? The supply would disappear. No builder is going to lose money to even flatten prices as their costs go up as well. The popular areas will always go to those with enough money and those without will not be able to buy or even eventually rent. Am I happy with that, no, but it is reality.

Get all your friends and supporters together, gather all the money you can and start building houses at a lower price. See how it works.

Do you realize how backwards your statement is? "Flatlining prices won't help, so let's just do nothing and let them continue to increase" That doesn't make any sense. If supply lags enough, then even the ghettos become expensive, like in 2006, when houses in South Central we're going for $600k, which is insane, because no one who could afford a $3k/month mortgage payment would dare buy a house in South Central. That was the true indicator that things had gone off the rails then, eventually the same thing will happen again with your "just don't build anything" mentality

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by expatCA

Your post actually shows some of the problems. You can't build houses fast enough or skyscrapers fast enough and ... the cost is high and will not bring down prices at all. Read the preceding few posts and see the costs and reality. Frustrating for low paid workers, yes, but it is life today. Gov't policy just makes it worse in so many ways. yes some laws are good and needed, but laws will not fix the problem. Make enough money, problem fixed, don't make enough and life will not be easy. Builders and landlords are not stupid. They are in business to make money just like everyone else. If they don't they are ... homeless.

You're being ridiculous. The law of supply and demand applies to housing as it does to anything else. You clearly don't understand the filtering theory of housing, despite my explaining it.

"Making enough money" doesn't fix the problem. If everyone finds a way to make more money and housing supply doesn't increase, then prices just inflate some more.

Government policy is a big part of what's wrong. Yes, a lot of areas don't have much buildable land. But limited land isn't the same as no land. We're not talking about Midwest prices here. We're taking making an attempt to make California a place that isn't the rich vs. impoverished serfs, which is what's it's becoming. And that's mostly a result of policy decisions.

California hasn't build enough housing for decades and economists from across the political spectrum have been saying so for decades.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by FirebirdCamaro1220

Prices may not drop, but it can stop prices from rising further. Again, supply and demand does work

Correct.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

The variation of the NIMBY attitude is the "let 'em eat cake" attitude. This in a state that purports to care about the working and middle class, who have been priced out of the most basic of housing.

Only when voting is about to happen.