Reply to Is there a coherent argument that loosening zoning laws will lead to affordable housing in DC?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Give rich people what they want, and there will be dregs for average people! In the far suburbs! Awesome. [/quote]

The rich people in Ward 3, and similar places, want to stop development.  Send the lesser folks somewhere  else, as  far away as possible.

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It's the density people who want to push out poor people to make way for their million-dollar condos. [/quote]

[b]No, I am a density person in Ward 3, and what I want is (a) new buildings with affordable housing in them to replace empty lots, (b) zoning that allows for apartment buildings and other multi-family housing throughout the ward instead of just big single-family homes, and (c) taller buildings in general to allow for more housing in the area. I want more poor people to be able to move TO the neighborhood[/b].[/quote]

None of this stuff will actually result in lower housing prices. That's the whole point of this thread. [/quote]

No, actually, buildings with units designated for affordable housing will lower housing prices. As will different kinds of housing (like, for instance, smaller apartments that a family could live in instead of only $1 million SFHs). As will an increase in supply, generally. No one has offered any evidence that a broad, deliberate policy to increase housing and specifically target housing affordability would not reduce housing prices. There's just been a lot of assertions that, for instance, building condos will make the area more desirable and therefore more expensive.

[b]But if you knocked down my house tomorrow and replaced it with a six-unit building full of two-bedroom condos, every single one of them would sell for less money than my house would if sold as a single family four-bedroom house. That is to say: Housing prices would be reduced.
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A few observations:

1. Obviously a 600 square foot condo costs less than a 2000 square foot house, because living in a 600 square foot condo *sucks* compared to living in a 2000 square foot house.

2. Those condos may be cheaper than a SFH but they still aren't remotely affordable. The price per square foot is off the charts. We regularly see ones go up that cost $1 million. (That in turn is pushing up the price of SFHs. The value of my house has doubled in five years. So, thank you, density people -- you're making single-family homes a lot more valuable).

3. Single-family homes and condos appeal to very different demographic groups. Simply put, people with children don't want to live in glorified dorms. If you replace SFHs with condos, you're pushing out people with children to make way for childless adults.  DC is already hostile to parents. I don't know why we want to give parents yet another reason to leave for the suburbs. 
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Well, you're not pushing anyone out in my example, except I guess me and my family -- but we would have made a choice to have my house knocked down then.

But just because you don't want to live in a 600-square-foot condo doesn't mean no one else does; I'm sure there are lots of people who can't afford to buy my house but could afford to buy a condo in the same location who'd be perfectly happy to live in my neighborhood.[/quote]

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