There is no housing crisis in MoCo or most of the DMV for that matter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of Moco is actually very cheap once you get about 25 minutes outside the beltway.

Not many places that are less than an hour outside a major global city where you can buy SFHs for under 500k. There are TONS in Germantown, Montgomery Village, Laytonville, Damascus, etc

That's funny, because I just checked Redfin, and they have zero (0) listings in Montgomery Village for SFHs under 500k. Germantown has one (1), listed at $400,000 which is a short sale. Laytonsville has one (1), listed at $499,900. Damascus has zero (0). I can't check etc.

That's because there is intense competition, and so they all sell quickly. Lots of people don't sit around whining, they get out there and make offers. You can check the sold listings. Houses like this:

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/12106-Foley-St-20902/home/11025196

There are two housing crises. One is the shortage of deeply affordable units. For-profit developers aren’t building these, but YIMBYs would like you to think that they are. The other is the shortage of single family homes. YIMBYs want to reduce the stock of single family homes even more.

Deeply affordable housing is wonderful because it brings so much value to the community. The low income housing complex near my neighborhood has only had two murders in the last three years.

At least you don’t have them under the same roof. We rented in Arlington and we’re not told there were set aside affordable units in the expensive condo building. We are in the 11th month of a 12 month lease and are moving to a small condo in Falls Church which limits the number of rentals.

All the fires, arrests, break ins, stolen packages, fire alarms, pool clearings, police calls were down to the affordable unit people. They also grabbed food meant for others from drivers that we nowvhave to go to the delivery person’s car to get a delivery.

This was $2,400 a month in North Arlington so it wasn’t a slum.

+1. This is the ugly truth that you're not supposed to talk about. Just wait for Plan Langston Blvd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Signed, a boomer that got their housing for 3 blueberries back in 1940 from a Sears catalog. Go talk to young people, even high earners, on how difficult it is to buy a house nowadays.

Hahahah nope. Millennial here. Scrimped and pinched pennies to save for a house. Had $80k in student loan debt I paid off and zero help from parents. Try again. We settled for a neighborhood we could afford to get on the property ladder. We didn't demand to immediately live in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Palisades, downtown DC, Arlington, etc. because we know we are not entitled to live wherever we want.

And it could have been easier, instead of just paying off an incumbent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of Moco is actually very cheap once you get about 25 minutes outside the beltway.

Not many places that are less than an hour outside a major global city where you can buy SFHs for under 500k. There are TONS in Germantown, Montgomery Village, Laytonville, Damascus, etc

That's funny, because I just checked Redfin, and they have zero (0) listings in Montgomery Village for SFHs under 500k. Germantown has one (1), listed at $400,000 which is a short sale. Laytonsville has one (1), listed at $499,900. Damascus has zero (0). I can't check etc.

That's because there is intense competition, and so they all sell quickly. Lots of people don't sit around whining, they get out there and make offers. You can check the sold listings. Houses like this:

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/12106-Foley-St-20902/home/11025196

There are two housing crises. One is the shortage of deeply affordable units. For-profit developers aren’t building these, but YIMBYs would like you to think that they are. The other is the shortage of single family homes. YIMBYs want to reduce the stock of single family homes even more.

lol, this is the best summary I’ve read on the topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When Bethesda, Silver Spring, Wheaton first experienced housing booms, those developments could legitimately characterized as sprawl. The people who decided to live there could have bought row homes in the city instead. The commute is longer now but it’s the same idea for Clarksburg and Frederick. Building more rentals in Bethesda won’t magically make single family home prices drop there. The best way to make single family home prices drop is to build more single family homes.

I guess it's very on-character for DCUM, though, to decide that to the extent there even is a housing crisis, it's about a shortage of detached uniplexes, and the solution is to build more detached uniplexes ... somewhere.

That part of the market has seen the biggest price increases. It’s simple supply and demand that detached uniplexes are where the greatest shortage/need is. Wouldn’t you agree?

No. There is no such thing as "simple supply and demand" in such a non-free market.

So it’s simple as supply and demand except when supply and demand provide an answer that you don’t like.

The supply and demand answer is build more single family houses. This is what people want to buy.

So, if more SFHs are wanted, why is the County pushing upzoning.

Because the county officials either don’t understand, or simply don’t care about what residents want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When Bethesda, Silver Spring, Wheaton first experienced housing booms, those developments could legitimately characterized as sprawl. The people who decided to live there could have bought row homes in the city instead. The commute is longer now but it’s the same idea for Clarksburg and Frederick. Building more rentals in Bethesda won’t magically make single family home prices drop there. The best way to make single family home prices drop is to build more single family homes.

I guess it's very on-character for DCUM, though, to decide that to the extent there even is a housing crisis, it's about a shortage of detached uniplexes, and the solution is to build more detached uniplexes ... somewhere.

That part of the market has seen the biggest price increases. It’s simple supply and demand that detached uniplexes are where the greatest shortage/need is. Wouldn’t you agree?

No. There is no such thing as "simple supply and demand" in such a non-free market.

So it’s simple as supply and demand except when supply and demand provide an answer that you don’t like.

The supply and demand answer is build more single family houses. This is what people want to buy.

So, if more SFHs are wanted, why is the County pushing upzoning.

Because the county officials either don’t understand, or simply don’t care about what residents want.

They absolutely don’t care. They have a “vision” and they are going to work with the YIMBY groups to push this through no matter what. Now is the time to let the officials know how we feel about it.

Maybe some council members can be recalled. I don’t think that there would be an issue getting signatures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When Bethesda, Silver Spring, Wheaton first experienced housing booms, those developments could legitimately characterized as sprawl. The people who decided to live there could have bought row homes in the city instead. The commute is longer now but it’s the same idea for Clarksburg and Frederick. Building more rentals in Bethesda won’t magically make single family home prices drop there. The best way to make single family home prices drop is to build more single family homes.

I guess it's very on-character for DCUM, though, to decide that to the extent there even is a housing crisis, it's about a shortage of detached uniplexes, and the solution is to build more detached uniplexes ... somewhere.

That part of the market has seen the biggest price increases. It’s simple supply and demand that detached uniplexes are where the greatest shortage/need is. Wouldn’t you agree?

No. There is no such thing as "simple supply and demand" in such a non-free market.

So it’s simple as supply and demand except when supply and demand provide an answer that you don’t like.

The supply and demand answer is build more single family houses. This is what people want to buy.

So, if more SFHs are wanted, why is the County pushing upzoning.

Because detached SFHs are very space intensive, both for the house itself and the transportation infrastructure they require. The county is out of space they can add them without having to do major infrastructure upgrades. The county doesn't have the money to build out that infrastructure and surely doesn't have the money to maintain it either.

The county still wants to grow, for some reason no one will really explain, so there isn't much to do but upzone. Some people want a winner (SFH) and loser (apartment towers/2 HR commute) strategy, while others want more of a middle-ground (X-plexes/Townhomes) approach. Neither approach is perfect, but option 1 is just going to feed the politics of resentment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of Moco is actually very cheap once you get about 25 minutes outside the beltway.

Not many places that are less than an hour outside a major global city where you can buy SFHs for under 500k. There are TONS in Germantown, Montgomery Village, Laytonville, Damascus, etc

That's funny, because I just checked Redfin, and they have zero (0) listings in Montgomery Village for SFHs under 500k. Germantown has one (1), listed at $400,000 which is a short sale. Laytonsville has one (1), listed at $499,900. Damascus has zero (0). I can't check etc.

That's because there is intense competition, and so they all sell quickly. Lots of people don't sit around whining, they get out there and make offers. You can check the sold listings. Houses like this:

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/12106-Foley-St-20902/home/11025196

There are two housing crises. One is the shortage of deeply affordable units. For-profit developers aren’t building these, but YIMBYs would like you to think that they are. The other is the shortage of single family homes. YIMBYs want to reduce the stock of single family homes even more.

Deeply affordable housing is wonderful because it brings so much value to the community. The low income housing complex near my neighborhood has only had two murders in the last three years.

At least you don’t have them under the same roof. We rented in Arlington and we’re not told there were set aside affordable units in the expensive condo building. We are in the 11th month of a 12 month lease and are moving to a small condo in Falls Church which limits the number of rentals.

All the fires, arrests, break ins, stolen packages, fire alarms, pool clearings, police calls were down to the affordable unit people. They also grabbed food meant for others from drivers that we nowvhave to go to the delivery person’s car to get a delivery.

This was $2,400 a month in North Arlington so it wasn’t a slum.

+1. This is the ugly truth that you're not supposed to talk about. Just wait for Plan Langston Blvd.

Supporting affordable housing is fine, but don't lie about the consequences. Crime rates will go up. There is a 20x discrepancy between incarceration rates among males born to families in bottom 10% of income distribution vs the top 10% of income distribution. There is no serious research that suggests any crime prevention policies will come close to reducing the incidence of criminality by 95%.
https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/3/14/17114226/incarceration-family-income-parents-study-brookings-rich-kid-poor-kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of Moco is actually very cheap once you get about 25 minutes outside the beltway.

Not many places that are less than an hour outside a major global city where you can buy SFHs for under 500k. There are TONS in Germantown, Montgomery Village, Laytonville, Damascus, etc

That's funny, because I just checked Redfin, and they have zero (0) listings in Montgomery Village for SFHs under 500k. Germantown has one (1), listed at $400,000 which is a short sale. Laytonsville has one (1), listed at $499,900. Damascus has zero (0). I can't check etc.

That's because there is intense competition, and so they all sell quickly. Lots of people don't sit around whining, they get out there and make offers. You can check the sold listings. Houses like this:

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/12106-Foley-St-20902/home/11025196

There are two housing crises. One is the shortage of deeply affordable units. For-profit developers aren’t building these, but YIMBYs would like you to think that they are. The other is the shortage of single family homes. YIMBYs want to reduce the stock of single family homes even more.

Deeply affordable housing is wonderful because it brings so much value to the community. The low income housing complex near my neighborhood has only had two murders in the last three years.

At least you don’t have them under the same roof. We rented in Arlington and we’re not told there were set aside affordable units in the expensive condo building. We are in the 11th month of a 12 month lease and are moving to a small condo in Falls Church which limits the number of rentals.

All the fires, arrests, break ins, stolen packages, fire alarms, pool clearings, police calls were down to the affordable unit people. They also grabbed food meant for others from drivers that we nowvhave to go to the delivery person’s car to get a delivery.

This was $2,400 a month in North Arlington so it wasn’t a slum.

+1. This is the ugly truth that you're not supposed to talk about. Just wait for Plan Langston Blvd.

Supporting affordable housing is fine, but don't lie about the consequences. Crime rates will go up. There is a 20x discrepancy between incarceration rates among males born to families in bottom 10% of income distribution vs the top 10% of income distribution. There is no serious research that suggests any crime prevention policies will come close to reducing the incidence of criminality by 95%.
https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/3/14/17114226/incarceration-family-income-parents-study-brookings-rich-kid-poor-kid

Crime rates are associated with areas with a HIGH concentration of extremely low income in a particular areas due in part to the lack of economic and educational opportunity in those areas. Part of the point is to reduce these high concentrations (intentionally created by past public policy by the way) and thereby decrease overall crime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of Moco is actually very cheap once you get about 25 minutes outside the beltway.

Not many places that are less than an hour outside a major global city where you can buy SFHs for under 500k. There are TONS in Germantown, Montgomery Village, Laytonville, Damascus, etc

That's funny, because I just checked Redfin, and they have zero (0) listings in Montgomery Village for SFHs under 500k. Germantown has one (1), listed at $400,000 which is a short sale. Laytonsville has one (1), listed at $499,900. Damascus has zero (0). I can't check etc.

That's because there is intense competition, and so they all sell quickly. Lots of people don't sit around whining, they get out there and make offers. You can check the sold listings. Houses like this:

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/12106-Foley-St-20902/home/11025196

There are two housing crises. One is the shortage of deeply affordable units. For-profit developers aren’t building these, but YIMBYs would like you to think that they are. The other is the shortage of single family homes. YIMBYs want to reduce the stock of single family homes even more.

Deeply affordable housing is wonderful because it brings so much value to the community. The low income housing complex near my neighborhood has only had two murders in the last three years.

At least you don’t have them under the same roof. We rented in Arlington and we’re not told there were set aside affordable units in the expensive condo building. We are in the 11th month of a 12 month lease and are moving to a small condo in Falls Church which limits the number of rentals.

All the fires, arrests, break ins, stolen packages, fire alarms, pool clearings, police calls were down to the affordable unit people. They also grabbed food meant for others from drivers that we nowvhave to go to the delivery person’s car to get a delivery.

This was $2,400 a month in North Arlington so it wasn’t a slum.

+1. This is the ugly truth that you're not supposed to talk about. Just wait for Plan Langston Blvd.

Supporting affordable housing is fine, but don't lie about the consequences. Crime rates will go up. There is a 20x discrepancy between incarceration rates among males born to families in bottom 10% of income distribution vs the top 10% of income distribution. There is no serious research that suggests any crime prevention policies will come close to reducing the incidence of criminality by 95%.
https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/3/14/17114226/incarceration-family-income-parents-study-brookings-rich-kid-poor-kid

Crime rates are associated with areas with a HIGH concentration of extremely low income in a particular areas due in part to the lack of economic and educational opportunity in those areas. Part of the point is to reduce these high concentrations (intentionally created by past public policy by the way) and thereby decrease overall crime.

Sorry, but that doesn't actually work. The poor people bring their problems with them, as demonstrated by the story shared by the North Arlington renter above. Reminds me of how people think that in workplaces, if you move a low performer to a high-performing team, the low-performer will improve, when studies show that what actually happens is that everyone gets dragged down and that the team gets worse overall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When Bethesda, Silver Spring, Wheaton first experienced housing booms, those developments could legitimately characterized as sprawl. The people who decided to live there could have bought row homes in the city instead. The commute is longer now but it’s the same idea for Clarksburg and Frederick. Building more rentals in Bethesda won’t magically make single family home prices drop there. The best way to make single family home prices drop is to build more single family homes.

I guess it's very on-character for DCUM, though, to decide that to the extent there even is a housing crisis, it's about a shortage of detached uniplexes, and the solution is to build more detached uniplexes ... somewhere.

That part of the market has seen the biggest price increases. It’s simple supply and demand that detached uniplexes are where the greatest shortage/need is. Wouldn’t you agree?

No. There is no such thing as "simple supply and demand" in such a non-free market.

So it’s simple as supply and demand except when supply and demand provide an answer that you don’t like.

The supply and demand answer is build more single family houses. This is what people want to buy.

Let people build and buy whatever and those who want SFHs will build and buy those and those who want density will build and buy that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When Bethesda, Silver Spring, Wheaton first experienced housing booms, those developments could legitimately characterized as sprawl. The people who decided to live there could have bought row homes in the city instead. The commute is longer now but it’s the same idea for Clarksburg and Frederick. Building more rentals in Bethesda won’t magically make single family home prices drop there. The best way to make single family home prices drop is to build more single family homes.

I guess it's very on-character for DCUM, though, to decide that to the extent there even is a housing crisis, it's about a shortage of detached uniplexes, and the solution is to build more detached uniplexes ... somewhere.

That part of the market has seen the biggest price increases. It’s simple supply and demand that detached uniplexes are where the greatest shortage/need is. Wouldn’t you agree?

No. There is no such thing as "simple supply and demand" in such a non-free market.

So it’s simple as supply and demand except when supply and demand provide an answer that you don’t like.

The supply and demand answer is build more single family houses. This is what people want to buy.

So, if more SFHs are wanted, why is the County pushing upzoning.

Because the county officials either don’t understand, or simply don’t care about what residents want.

They absolutely don’t care. They have a “vision” and they are going to work with the YIMBY groups to push this through no matter what. Now is the time to let the officials know how we feel about it.

Maybe some council members can be recalled. I don’t think that there would be an issue getting signatures.

Recalls have picked up steam in DC. Ride the momentum, do it in MoCo. I bet you could even connect with the DC folks. The DMV is intertwined. Dumb policies affect all of us!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of Moco is actually very cheap once you get about 25 minutes outside the beltway.

Not many places that are less than an hour outside a major global city where you can buy SFHs for under 500k. There are TONS in Germantown, Montgomery Village, Laytonville, Damascus, etc

That's funny, because I just checked Redfin, and they have zero (0) listings in Montgomery Village for SFHs under 500k. Germantown has one (1), listed at $400,000 which is a short sale. Laytonsville has one (1), listed at $499,900. Damascus has zero (0). I can't check etc.

That's because there is intense competition, and so they all sell quickly. Lots of people don't sit around whining, they get out there and make offers. You can check the sold listings. Houses like this:

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/12106-Foley-St-20902/home/11025196

There are two housing crises. One is the shortage of deeply affordable units. For-profit developers aren’t building these, but YIMBYs would like you to think that they are. The other is the shortage of single family homes. YIMBYs want to reduce the stock of single family homes even more.

Deeply affordable housing is wonderful because it brings so much value to the community. The low income housing complex near my neighborhood has only had two murders in the last three years.

At least you don’t have them under the same roof. We rented in Arlington and we’re not told there were set aside affordable units in the expensive condo building. We are in the 11th month of a 12 month lease and are moving to a small condo in Falls Church which limits the number of rentals.

All the fires, arrests, break ins, stolen packages, fire alarms, pool clearings, police calls were down to the affordable unit people. They also grabbed food meant for others from drivers that we nowvhave to go to the delivery person’s car to get a delivery.

This was $2,400 a month in North Arlington so it wasn’t a slum.

+1. This is the ugly truth that you're not supposed to talk about. Just wait for Plan Langston Blvd.

Supporting affordable housing is fine, but don't lie about the consequences. Crime rates will go up. There is a 20x discrepancy between incarceration rates among males born to families in bottom 10% of income distribution vs the top 10% of income distribution. There is no serious research that suggests any crime prevention policies will come close to reducing the incidence of criminality by 95%.
https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/3/14/17114226/incarceration-family-income-parents-study-brookings-rich-kid-poor-kid

Crime rates are associated with areas with a HIGH concentration of extremely low income in a particular areas due in part to the lack of economic and educational opportunity in those areas. Part of the point is to reduce these high concentrations (intentionally created by past public policy by the way) and thereby decrease overall crime.

Sorry, but that doesn't actually work. The poor people bring their problems with them, as demonstrated by the story shared by the North Arlington renter above. Reminds me of how people think that in workplaces, if you move a low performer to a high-performing team, the low-performer will improve, when studies show that what actually happens is that everyone gets dragged down and that the team gets worse overall.

I have data, do you?

“We found that the connection people observe between voucher households and crime has more to do with the fact that voucher households have limited options on the housing market, and they are more likely to move to higher crime environments,” he said. “It’s not that they tend to bring crime to neighborhoods.”

https://blueprint.ucla.edu/feature/do-the-poor-bring-crime-with-them/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWe%20found%20that%20the%20connection,to%20bring%20crime%20to%20neighborhoods.%E2%80%9D
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/em/summer16/highlight2.html
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://wagner.nyu.edu/files/faculty/publications/Lens_NeighborhoodCrime_AssistedHousingRCR08.pdf
https://www.clevelandfed.org/publications/economic-commentary/2014/ec-201419-public-housing-concentrated-poverty-and-crime

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of Moco is actually very cheap once you get about 25 minutes outside the beltway.

Not many places that are less than an hour outside a major global city where you can buy SFHs for under 500k. There are TONS in Germantown, Montgomery Village, Laytonville, Damascus, etc

That's funny, because I just checked Redfin, and they have zero (0) listings in Montgomery Village for SFHs under 500k. Germantown has one (1), listed at $400,000 which is a short sale. Laytonsville has one (1), listed at $499,900. Damascus has zero (0). I can't check etc.

That's because there is intense competition, and so they all sell quickly. Lots of people don't sit around whining, they get out there and make offers. You can check the sold listings. Houses like this:

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/12106-Foley-St-20902/home/11025196

There are two housing crises. One is the shortage of deeply affordable units. For-profit developers aren’t building these, but YIMBYs would like you to think that they are. The other is the shortage of single family homes. YIMBYs want to reduce the stock of single family homes even more.

lol, this is the best summary I’ve read on the topic.

I think a very reasonable and middle ground approach would be to encourage the building of substantially more townhouses. You could tight communities with townhouses that include some green space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of Moco is actually very cheap once you get about 25 minutes outside the beltway.

Not many places that are less than an hour outside a major global city where you can buy SFHs for under 500k. There are TONS in Germantown, Montgomery Village, Laytonville, Damascus, etc

That's funny, because I just checked Redfin, and they have zero (0) listings in Montgomery Village for SFHs under 500k. Germantown has one (1), listed at $400,000 which is a short sale. Laytonsville has one (1), listed at $499,900. Damascus has zero (0). I can't check etc.

That's because there is intense competition, and so they all sell quickly. Lots of people don't sit around whining, they get out there and make offers. You can check the sold listings. Houses like this:

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/12106-Foley-St-20902/home/11025196

There are two housing crises. One is the shortage of deeply affordable units. For-profit developers aren’t building these, but YIMBYs would like you to think that they are. The other is the shortage of single family homes. YIMBYs want to reduce the stock of single family homes even more.

lol, this is the best summary I’ve read on the topic.

I think a very reasonable and middle ground approach would be to encourage the building of substantially more townhouses. You could tight communities with townhouses that include some green space.

Builders do not need encouragement to build more attached houses. They are doing it without encouragement. Unless you're referring to building attached houses in residential areas where currently, only detached houses are allowed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of Moco is actually very cheap once you get about 25 minutes outside the beltway.

Not many places that are less than an hour outside a major global city where you can buy SFHs for under 500k. There are TONS in Germantown, Montgomery Village, Laytonville, Damascus, etc

That's funny, because I just checked Redfin, and they have zero (0) listings in Montgomery Village for SFHs under 500k. Germantown has one (1), listed at $400,000 which is a short sale. Laytonsville has one (1), listed at $499,900. Damascus has zero (0). I can't check etc.

That's because there is intense competition, and so they all sell quickly. Lots of people don't sit around whining, they get out there and make offers. You can check the sold listings. Houses like this:

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/12106-Foley-St-20902/home/11025196

There are two housing crises. One is the shortage of deeply affordable units. For-profit developers aren’t building these, but YIMBYs would like you to think that they are. The other is the shortage of single family homes. YIMBYs want to reduce the stock of single family homes even more.

lol, this is the best summary I’ve read on the topic.

I think a very reasonable and middle ground approach would be to encourage the building of substantially more townhouses. You could tight communities with townhouses that include some green space.

Builders do not need encouragement to build more attached houses. They are doing it without encouragement. Unless you're referring to building attached houses in residential areas where currently, only detached houses are allowed?

^^^And you know what else? There's also opposition to building more attached houses.
https://www.montgomeryvillage.com/press-room/village-news/monument-realty-proposes-change-to-area-2-development