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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I agree with the YIMBY concept in principle but the YIMBYs in the groups the OP mentioned are knee-jerk defenders of developers and their tax breaks. Zoning reform is one solution but it isn’t THE solution. YIMBY platforms tend to be too one-sided in that developers can do no wrong. If they just get this or that tax break then all will be right with the world  :?  
Developers like to point to zoning codes and taxes and fees as reasons why they can’t build any middle income housing, when in fact these things are just bites around the edges and they just want to milk the local government for anything they can get with no intention on building anything cheaper. The reason is because by definition private developers must maximize profit and deliver a minimum 6% return on investment to investors. [b]They legally HAVE to maximize profit[/b] - this is the problem. And they can, because housing isn’t like a typical market commodity that people can choose to do without or have more leeway to economize. You can choose not to buy new shoes or a new phone. But you have to have a home, and there is only so much “economizing” you can do. Especially since a lack of multi bedroom family sized inventory makes it hard even to divide it up among roommates. So instead of shopping around or doing without, people just go into debt or spend 50+% of their incomes on housing. So the supply and demand model doesn’t work if it’s something people have little choice but to spend. And developers get away with that. [/quote]

What law requires real-estate developers to maximize profit?[/quote]

Who needs a law?  Contacts and fiduciary responsibilities between private parties.  [/quote]

So actually it's not true, and private developers don't actually have to maximize profit? How about that.[/quote]

Serious q: what do you see as the alternative? What do you think private developers are doing? You think they should all be converted to nonprofits, or...?

I think I am YIMBY-leaning. Gentrification is good, development is good, building more housing means that there's more housing for all - and more to the point, not building more housing just makes a city more unaffordable to most.

I understand the non-YIMBY perspective, though. I live in a neighborhood where smaller houses are being knocked down in favor of gigantic new builds that are going for a fortune. I moved to this neighborhood when I could afford it, and I liked the eclectic charm - but prices have gone so high that I understand why someone coming here now wouldn't want to settle for some pokey old house with plumbing problems, I guess. Change is hard, though, and no one likes feeling like they're on the wrong end of it. That they are the ones who are going to get forced out of their community because they can't get the services they need there anymore, or it's too crowded, or it doesn't look the same, or they don't have the $ for skyrocketing rents.

The thing is that stagnated cities are dying cities. Grow, adapt, or die. It's not going to be how it was when you got there no matter what.
[/quote]
Cities have also been destroyed by change. They built a freeway through Hartford and it was never the same again. It died. [/quote]

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