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A comment on San Francisco's zoning makes it illegal to build apartments in 73.5% of the city. Parent comment

Re:San Francisco's zoning makes it illegal to build apartmen... by nindalf on Thursday July 19, 2018 @01:05PM (#17568345)
Mildly disagree. If a NIMBY houseowner (along with everyone else in the area) agrees to change the zoning laws and allow high density housing, that only benefits the houseowners who sell their land and move on. Everyone else could _possibly_ see their house value drop because of increased supply and sprawl.

But it's a slightly worse deal for these homeowners because a potential developer could tell them "hey, why don't you sell to us while prices are high? Once we're done building, prices will fall"

I'm not defending what these homeowners are doing, but I disagreed with the notion that they're not behaving rationally. IMO, they are.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:San Francisco's zoning makes it illegal to build apartmen... by clairity on Thursday July 19, 2018 @01:21PM (#17568498)
it's the disregard for your fellow human (selfishness) that the parent was reacting to, not (wholly) irrational behavior.

i'd argue it's irrational to be so blatantly selfish because it ignores community members, creates bad feelings and ultimately, creates enemies. considering that, homeowners would be better off accepting some level of infill in their neighborhoods.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:San Francisco's zoning makes it illegal to build apartmen... by ant6n on Thursday July 19, 2018 @01:31PM (#17568597)
How's increased density "sprawl"?
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Re:San Francisco's zoning makes it illegal to build apartmen... by saosebastiao on Thursday July 19, 2018 @01:29PM (#17568580)
Yes, you are right. As it stands right now, upzones are valuable because high density land is scarce, upzones are rare, and the price difference between higher density zoned land and lower density zoned land is so drastic. A much larger scale upzone would tank the value of high density zoned land to a much lower equilibrium.

The more important question is why we should settle for policy based on the economic rationality of people whose interests hurt society? Should we cave to the Koch Brothers too?

[ Parent | on HN ]