It doesn't, but how much cheap land in Goldilocks-type areas really exists? The housing price problem is already becoming national in scale.
> It doesn't have to be a huge influx, nor all at once.
That ship sailed a long time ago. It already is. It turns out 1% of Californians leaving annually is still half a million people swarming other places. You cannot run into a town in the Mountain West or PNW where locals aren't complaining about Californians driving up prices. Encouraging more people to do this is going to exacerbate the problem.
> Shops aren't as much of a concern today with internet delivery.
There's still a baseline. To use your example of Appalachia in a different comment chain, consider that people in 40 counties in West Virginia today are food deserts without easy access to fresh food. Instacart is more expensive and not available everywhere.
https://www.wvpublic.org/podcast/inside-appalachia/2015-10-0...
That's my point - it doesn't have to be perfect. Otherwise nothing will solve it.
"Encouraging more people to do this is going to exacerbate the problem."
They should be moving to places that are shrinking. That's what I'm suggesting.
That food desert thing is a joke. They're talking about supermarkets, yet there are other sources like farm stands. 10 rural miles is nothing. That might be a 10-15 minute trip if you've ever driven in WV and seen the speeds people drive.
The biggest issue/cost isn't the actual building codes, as those are easy to meet in most places. It's the sanitation requirements. Those old shacks were allowed to have outhouses, or at least septic systems that would no longer pass. Septic systems are a pain to put in and are quite expensive.
> They should be moving to places that are shrinking. That's what I'm suggesting.
And we're back to "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink."
> That food desert thing is a joke. They're talking about supermarkets, yet there are other sources like farm stands. 10 rural miles is nothing. That might be a 10-15 minute trip if you've ever driven in WV and seen the speeds people drive.
* Supermarkets in the US provide all kinds of out-of-season produce throughout the year. This is what consumers have come to expect, and is an inherent limitation of farm stands.
* Those most struggling with COL also struggle with the cost of transportation in the US, so driving a dozen miles is a non-starter.
It seems every city has areas within it with these issues. So this shouldn't affect the possibility of moving to areas that have decent schools. And there are solutions to many, like private schools can be a good option especially if the yearly cost is less than the property tax in a HCOL area.
"It doesn‘t take that many people to tighten up the housing market in a town of 10,000."
It doesn't have to be a huge influx, nor all at once. The point is that zoning is less restrictive and land is cheaper, so people can build. The depressed areas have relatively high vacancies anyways.
"Employers want to be where their clients and employees will be, residents want to be in a place with decent shops and services."
Some people want nature. Shops aren't as much of a concern today with internet delivery. I find it highly suspect that people all want exactly the same thing. It might be more likely that the people in one group are just being left behind.