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

Where is that land of benevolent high rise builders? [b]You cannot increase supply without giving government incentives[/b], which usually means some sort of subsidized housing. You cannot force developers to take a hit to build. They are not non profits.  In NYC building developers get tax breaks if they allocate certain percentage of housing to mid income, they don't want low/no income as they want steadily employed law obedient people, just not high earners, they want MC. But this housing is very hard to get, there are long waitlists and lotteries and qualification requires certain level of earned income, but not more than cut off. I know people who live in these places, there used to be entire buildings and compounds, but nobody is building this anymore.  Developers give only a few units away in exchange for tax breaks and this costs the city and its taxpayers. [/quote]

There is such a thing as market-rate affordable housing.

Housing for poor people requires government support. But there's no reason the market can't support housing for lower-income people. It's not as though the housing market were segmented in two groups, (1) people with piles of money and (2) very poor people. If the builders build lots of "luxury" units, then the people with piles of money can stop bidding up the prices of the existing less-luxurious units.[/quote]

The NIMBYs who write this stuff have apparently not shopped for an apartment lately. They do not seem to realize that middle class people live in older high rises, that those older hi rises are priced to the market with great precision, that a tight market for new luxury units sends people, at the margins, into the older buildings, driving their prices up and displacing people further down the ladder or out to sprawlville.[/quote]

Older buildings in desirable parts of DC go for pretty penny. Crumbling rowhomes are sold for market price and are not remotely affordable to families making middle income. I have no clue what you are talking about. It's not about NIMBY at all, it's about market and people not wanting to sell or rent at a loss. One of my relatives family live in a rent controlled unit in a very popular area that hasn't been upgraded in 30 years. The building owners invest in renovating empty units and rent them for a market price that's not affordable to anyone not making professional incomes or rooming together. Families don't live in this building unless they had been there for decades, it's purely occupied for rent control/young professionals/students rooming together/childless couples.

I think you somehow believe that allowing zoning to build another NYC is going to make DC into magical affordable mecca with high paying jobs. If there is no demand, it's hard to motivate builders to buy and build.

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