Re:Things that are illegal to build in most American cities now
by tropo on Tuesday December 10, 2019 @04:24PM
(#21757013)
The cost is a drop in the bucket, but there are enough other drops to overflow the bucket. When we take offense at substandard living conditions and then regulate them away, we price out the poor. We often even excuse it as some benefit to the poor, saying that they deserve good things too, but of course the totality of the regulations ends up pricing them out of the market.
Re:Things that are illegal to build in most American cities now
by susijdjdjxa on Tuesday December 10, 2019 @04:32PM
(#21757085)
I think it’s a red herring in areas with expensive housing. If you could save a bit of money with cheaper building codes, the land cost would increase by the same amount, because land is capturing all the surplus.
Re:Things that are illegal to build in most American cities now
by AnthonyMouse on Wednesday December 11, 2019 @01:04AM
(#21759985)
Land only captures all the surplus when construction that increases density is prohibited. What people are really paying for living space, not dirt. A thousand square feet in a ten story building is pretty much just as good as a thousand square feet in a single story building, but the ten story building has ten times as much of it, so at scale more supply lowers the price.
There is also demand for "smallest available unit of housing" which naturally costs more if it's required by law to be larger.
Re:Things that are illegal to build in most American cities now
by SQueeeeeL on Tuesday December 10, 2019 @03:25PM
(#21756473)
Electric cars are still a luxury good.....
Re:Things that are illegal to build in most American cities now
by crooked-v on Tuesday December 10, 2019 @04:45PM
(#21757196)
Even taking that as a given, it's eminently reasonable to expect new home construction to last long enough that for future residents, electric cars will instead be a normal fact of life.
Re:Things that are illegal to build in most American cities now
by standardUser on Tuesday December 10, 2019 @03:41PM
(#21756624)
You can buy a used Leaf for under $15k. Not exactly luxury pricing.
Re:Things that are illegal to build in most American cities now
by 205guy on Tuesday December 10, 2019 @04:26PM
(#21757024)
I bought a NEW Leaf for $16K (after tax credit) in 2017 when they were liquidating the 1st generation models. It has 30 kWh of battery and a range of about 120 miles.
Right now, you can buy a USED Leaf under $5K, but it probably has a worn out battery with 60-70 miles of range usable:
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=nissan+leaf&so...
Re:Things that are illegal to build in most American cities now
by madhadron on Tuesday December 10, 2019 @04:25PM
(#21757019)
For $4k, as it happens. As I did a few weeks ago.
Re:Things that are illegal to build in most American cities now
by m463 on Tuesday December 10, 2019 @07:03PM
(#21758180)
Did you price used electic cars recently?
Electric vehicle sales in california are growing rapidly each year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_electric_vehicles_in_C...
Also, once people switch to an EV, they don't generally want to switch back (quiet, clean, cheap, minimal maintenance)
Electric cars are up against a vicious cycle: no one will build houses to accommodate electric cars until a lot of people have them, but most people won't buy an electric car if they can't charge it in their garage. So if you want people to drive electric cars, which the government rightly does, it makes sense to require that new houses are built with electric cars in mind. Yes, Teslas are expensive, but the expectation is that the houses will still be around once electric vehicles are more affordable, and it's cheaper to prepare for them now than to retrofit later on.