How Reverse Game Theory Could Solve the Housing Shortage

Re:How Reverse Game Theory Could Solve the Housing Shortage by scythe on Monday March 30, 2026 @11:24AM (#47575497)

Certainly, building new housing works well at a policy level. But calling for new housing doesn't seem to work at a political level. We've been fighting this fight ever since the financial crisis and every election cycle brings us a few victories with an equal number of reversals. And it isn't only within the left that the opposition arises; it wears red in progressive neighborhoods, but it seems to have a taste for brown when that's convenient.

I don't think that the urbanist movement can succeed if it is driven by policy wonks who want to throw out the rulebook and impose reforms from the ivory tower without a real small-d democratic political strategy. Many of us are used to fighting the political battle against climate change by being Absolutely Correct and expecting that Science with her indefatigable armies of Reality will guard the flanks. A fully economic fight like this one just doesn't have the same kind of inevitability. Every step forward on the ground weakens the sense of urgency in the legislature, leading to an equilibrium trap without a vigorous political movement that can hold momentum.

Nerds do not usually want to do politics, but in housing you have to do politics.

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Re:How Reverse Game Theory Could Solve the Housing Shortage by bpt3 on Monday March 30, 2026 @11:37AM (#47575669)

IMO, this is largely because the government's job is to stay out of the way, and people who hold elected office in areas where this is a problem (the Northeast Corridor and West coast generally), mostly have a certain something in common that indicates they are likely to think they need to "help" the market along.

It's not a coincidence that the "housing crisis" continues unabated in places like NYC that are losing population, yet appears to be solved in areas in the south that are absorbing those people.

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Re:How Reverse Game Theory Could Solve the Housing Shortage by GN0515 on Monday March 30, 2026 @11:42AM (#47575733)

Does this not have more to do with desirability? It's kind of hard to compare property prices in NYC with Alabama. Like no shit housing will be affordable in places that, no offense, are kind of a shit hole. In Canada, housing prices are crazy in beautiful in beautiful Vancouver, but are totally "affordable" in the arctic circle. It has nothing to do with legislation.

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Re:How Reverse Game Theory Could Solve the Housing Shortage by nradov on Monday March 30, 2026 @12:38PM (#47576523)

That's funny because a lot of people in Huntsville, AL would consider San Francisco, CA to be a literal shit hole. And yet SF real estate prices are much higher. It turns out there are many factors: local government development policies, weather, jobs, geography, etc.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Human-waste-shuts-dow...

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Re:How Reverse Game Theory Could Solve the Housing Shortage by forgotaccount3 on Monday March 30, 2026 @12:51PM (#47576727)

> Does this not have more to do with desirability?

Not really. NYC population still hasn't fully recovered to the pre-covid peak: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NYPOP

NYC is losing it's share of the global finance jobs as firms shift staffing to other, more desirable locations: https://pix11.com/news/local-news/nyc-job-market-loses-thous...

NYC rent being unaffordable is due to legislation that keeps apartments off of the market due to not being financially viable to repair to habitable standards in addition to legislation overly empowering local groups to block new construction.

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Re:How Reverse Game Theory Could Solve the Housing Shortage by bpt3 on Monday March 30, 2026 @01:46PM (#47577415)

Housing prices represent a tradeoff between affordability and desirability in most cases (with a major aspect of desirability being access to desirable employment).

It's not hard at all to compare property prices in NYC to Alabama using a cost of living index (and to some extent a quality of life index, though these are fairly subjective).

People are voting with their feet every day, and they largely aren't moving because they are looking for a decrease in their standard of living.

Many, many, many people think NYC, SF, Vancouver etc. are shitholes. The good news is that people are currently allowed to choose where their surroundings look like, though many politicians and bureaucrats seem hell-bent on changing that. And now we're back at the start of this discussion...

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