Reply to We need homes. A lot of homes. Not just affordable, but also middle-income homes.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Increasing density drives housing prices up because it creates economies of scale for businesses.

When lots of people are packed into an area, restaurants and bars and boutiques want to be there too because they want foot traffic. People in turn want to live near walking distance of those restaurants and bars, which drives up demand to live in that area, which increases prices. That creates more incentive to build housing there, which draws even more businesses (more customers!), which leads more people to want to live there, which further drives up housing prices.

It's an upward spiral that would have never begun if there wasn't a critical mass of people living in an area (in condos and apartments) in the first place. This is why a 800 square foot condo in Navy Yard costs more than a single family home in Michigan Park.[/quote]

You keep saying this. But Navy Yard condos cost more than Michigan Park houses because they were all built as expensive luxury units in the last decade (or last couple of years), not because it's dense. And comparing Navy Yard, which was mostly not a residential area before the relatively recent development there, to longtime residential neighborhoods doesn't make much sense, anyway — it wasn't just that density increased, it was that suddenly there were people living there in large numbers, period, regardless of how many of them there are per square mile.

What does drive up prices in a lot of neighborhoods is gentrification. But increased density in already wealthy neighborhoods does not drive up housing prices per square foot, it lowers them by making it possible to rent or buy apartments rather than only big single-family homes. A growing population with more disposable income may drive up rents for the bars/restaurants/businesses you say will flock to the area, but it doesn't drive up prices for housing if housing is already expensive. I see another poster has linked to various studies that have come to different conclusions than you have, too. [/quote]

increased density never actually happens in wealthy neighborhoods. it *only* happens in poorer neighborhoods. [/quote]

What do you call City Ridge, rising next to McLean Gardens and North Cleveland Park?[/quote]

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