Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
I'm not saying that CA's housing market is efficient or just, I'm simply saying it works very well for CA homeowners. Most people are self-interested and so probably don't see a problem.
I also think there's an argument that covering the coast in high density would be irresponsible, and would lower the quality of life for all Californians. The CA coast is 100x better than, say the FL coast, largely because of land use restrictions. Treasured places like Torrey Pines and Crystal Cove wouldn't exist without NIMBYs and heavy govt. regulation.
Also, the U.S. is a huge country where you can achieve a high quality of life in dozens of major metros. Not clear why you need to sacrifice some of the most beautiful and distinct parts of the country upon an altar of "this must be as cheap as Columbus or there's a problem". People who want cheap, big homes with poor long-term valuation, and laissez-faire regulation, already have 80% of the country.
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You don't need to even build up the coast, although a few blocks inland in some areas could definitely see increased density. You don't really hear about a housing crisis in Florida. There it's more about low incomes for service workers and entry level professionals. California has the worst of both worlds right now.
Nobody is saying it must be as cheap as Columbus, but if residential was built as proposed instead of being cut in half, maybe some $3000 units would be $2500, or the older unit going for $1800 due to no competition would instead be $1400, etc. Every dollar counts for those going paycheck to paycheck, and California has plenty of those people. Many of them are natives that grew up in the area. It's a shame people can't afford to live where they grew up out here, unless they're in the Central Valley.
Even going further than that, there's no reason why teachers have to commute 2hr+ into SF because they can't afford housing near the city they work. If they move out of state, who is going to teach the kids? My girlfriend used to take the train from the Inland Empire to Orange County and it was full of teachers and service workers that are there to serve the mostly higher dollar Orange County population. Which funny enough, Orange County has built a ton of housings especially in the southern parts. They were actually really liberal with that, but because it's OC they all start in around $800k+ and are little boxes made of ticky tacky. It was only a few years ago that OC finally had a new residential highrise in Santa Ana.
That should be the future of California. You should start seeing more highrises inland and a few sprinkled along the coast in specific areas (Santa Monica, Long Beach, Newport Center/Fashion Island, etc. These should complement the redevelopment of suburban strip centers in areas with density. We talk about protecting the coast, but how is a suburban style shopping center
like this one protecting the coast? The state just needs to build up where there are already mid/high-rises.