Housing (Supply Crisis & Public Policy)

kdmc said:
I mean, duh? I also want to have my cake and eat it too.
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If there was interest in actually buying/renting said new housing... things would be a little different.

That's how you end up with people somehow believing that building crappy apartments in Hudson will make their Davis Square rent go down.
 
I think moderates like Maura need to realize that the more you squeeze renters every year, the demands are only going to get stronger until you have some version of NYC’s laws and politicians that support them. They had their “shot” with the communities act (which hasn’t reduced costs) but in truth they simply dgaf about the cost of housing. Yeah the bottom 10% will be taken care of with IZ, and to them that’s all they need to call it a win. They need to actually fix the issue, not just talk about it. Until then enjoy trying to fight off rent control every year.
 
jklo said:
If there was interest in actually buying/renting said new housing... things would be a little different.

That's how you end up with people somehow believing that building crappy apartments in Hudson will make their Davis Square rent go down.
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Dunning-Kruger is how you end up with people somehow believing that markets are so simple that the housing markets of two places have nothing to do with one and other if there's very few people directly debating between the two.

People are debating between Hudson and Framingham. Framingham and Waltham. Waltham and Davis Square. Building housing in Hudson absolutely has impacts on communities outside of those people are directly comparing Hudson to just as the heavy demand for greater Boston housing has impacts on Hudson.
jklo said:
Reducing costs wasn't the point of the Act.
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Are we still doing the dog whistling about school districts?
 
KCasiglio said:
that markets are so simple that the housing markets of two places have nothing to do with one and other if there's very few people directly debating between the two.
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It's a one way thing. Housing prices in Hudson don't affect Boston prices. Because when you are talking about MUDs... these people want to live in the Inner Core. And there's def an unmet demand for living alone there.

They might look at the Burbs for cheaper... but since NC would be even more expensive, it's not going to make any difference.
 
These officials lack a basic understanding of economics, and over the last three decades taxpayers have repeatedly been burdened with poor deals at both the state and federal levels.

Rents are not going to decrease because corrupt political decision‑making and corporate bailouts have distorted the housing market. A small group has effectively monopolized the development process, removing any real capitalism or competition.
A developer builds a complex and requires rents of around $3,500 across the board—levels that are completely out of reach for the local workforce that supports the surrounding economy. These projects are financially structured around high‑income earners, international students, or Section 8 tenants whose rent is ultimately subsidized by taxpayers.
When developers can’t lease these units, they simply convert the building to Section 8, shifting the risk and cost back to the public.

What's going on in Minnesota is basically what is going on in the Blue States for federal/state financial corruption across the board.

Very sad to watch our free country be financially destroyed by a group of politicians both sides Republicans and democrats.
 
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No surprises here lmao
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jklo said:
It's a one way thing. Housing prices in Hudson don't affect Boston prices. Because when you are talking about MUDs... these people want to live in the Inner Core.
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What are you basing this on besides your own vibes and opinions? Absolutely, there is massive unmet demand for housing (of all types, not just living alone) within the inner core.

Let's look at Lexington. It enthusiastically embraced the MBTA communities act and zoned for far more than it was required to. Developers immediately jumped at the chance. Is that because they're idiots who don't know the regional housing market as well as you? Or is it because there's absolutely plenty of demand for MUDs in Lexington?

If anything, I believe one of the biggest unmet demands is for MUDs in walkable village centers outside the inner core with transit connections to/from the inner core. Exactly the type of housing 3A SHOULD be encouraging, if municipalities were operating in good faith.
 
KCasiglio said:
If anything, I believe one of the biggest unmet demands is for MUDs in walkable village centers outside the inner core with transit connections to/from the inner core.
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It's anecdotal, but as long as we're doing vibes anyway, I have a close friend working in Cambridge as a recent PhD grad who would have liked to live in ~Davis, but very happily settled for a less expensive new-build apartment in Maynard center, which is beautiful and walkable and is a short drive/ride to a CR connection to Porter.
 
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KCasiglio said:
What are you basing this on besides your own vibes and opinions? Absolutely, there is massive unmet demand for housing (of all types, not just living alone) within the inner core
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Yes, my opinion.

And let me tell ya, if they don't get serious about building in the Inner Core, at some point Corpos will start leaving.
 
jklo said:
Yes, my opinion.

And let me tell ya, if they don't get serious about building in the Inner Core, at some point Corpos will start leaving.
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No disagreement there. At a certain point cost of living is going to become a massive impediment towards "talent" wanting to live here.

www.bostonglobe.com

In Boston, new development approvals sank in 2025 - The Boston Globe

The past year brought both the completion of one of the largest, most complicated real estate projects in Boston’s history and a continued slowdown in future development.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
 
It is not corporations that we should worry about locally it is another exodus or "brain drain" of graduates like that which happened in the late 80s until about 1998. The problem with fixing it is success and the ensuing spike in real estate prices.
 
DZH22 said:
Let's stay simplistic. If this so called household was paying a real mortgage (and not the variable rate version that crashed the market back in 2009) then they would owe a little bit less at the end of every year. However, that is not the case here. The balance continues to get larger, not smaller. In your analogy, the people would lose their house to the bank. Now apply "losing the house" to the United States and... then what happens?
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Well, you've stumbled on to why the analogy is false. Unlike the federal government, you and I will die, so we kind of need to be able to service and reduce our debts as we approach the end of life. But a national government will in theory exist in perpetuity, so the relationship of debt to income is very different. Also, there is the question of debt growth vs income growth, which you conveniently ignore.
 
ritchiew said:
Does anyone have a sense of how likely it is this case will succeed?
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Disclaimer I'm not a land use attorney, but my guess it won't succeed. Cities and towns have a lot of latitude to establish regulations and restrictions for the public welfare, even if the merits of the restriction could be debated by reasonable minds. I think the developer will attempt to argue that the current regulations are too restrictive and they do not advance public welfare because they are hindering housing production.
 
At the federal level, the Faircloth Amendment hamstrings growth of public housing by limiting the unit count to the number in existence on October 1, 1999. Without the means to increase the number of publicly funded units, we are stuck with the private sector. Yanking IZ removes one of the few tools available to get the private sector to fill the gap.
 
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