Anonymous
Post 07/23/2019 10:04     Subject: Do you have any advice re: fighting popups/popbacks, etc?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Looking for help fighting a really, really egregious popback/popup etc. that's coming to our block. Looking for any advice, any names we should be contacting about how to fight this.


Here’s my advice: don’t fight. Pop ups are good for density and thus they’re good for cities.

I have nothing to do with developers. I just want lower housing prices, for the good of the city. So I want more units. Many more units.



It's funny how so many people concerned about affordable housing have latched onto the importance of supply. In economics, that's called supply-side economics. Many people concerned about housing put such an extreme emphasis on supply that, if you were to put it on a political spectrum, they would be to the right of virtually every Republican you can think of.


No, it's not. It's called a basic understanding of supply and demand. Prices are high when demand exceeds supply. Increase supply to meet demand, and prices go down. (Prices would also go down if demand went down - for example, if people stopped wanting to live there.)

Here's Wikipedia's definition of supply-side economics: "Supply-side economics is a macroeconomic theory arguing that economic growth can be most effectively created by lowering taxes and decreasing regulation, by which it is directly opposed to demand-side economics. According to supply-side economics, consumers will then benefit from a greater supply of goods and services at lower prices and employment will increase."

If you don't like the Wikipedia definition, feel free to supply your own.


Housing prices are high because of the Federal Reserve, not because of the supply of housing. The supply of housing and the number of people in DC don't actually change very much from year to year, despite all the rhetoric. Why? Because it takes a long time to build a house and people do not move to new cities willy nilly. And yet housing prices go up so much. So what's happening? It's the Federal Reserve. When interest rates are low, a lot more people can get huge mortgages. If there's many more people able to get huge mortgages, there's more people with the ability to bid up the price of housing. That's why housing prices go up so much. When interest rates go up, housing prices will crash. People seem to think that DC is some magical place where prices will only go up. It's just not true.


Never have I encountered anyone so fixed on the idea that supply and demand have nothing to do with price.


I know this is like a religious belief for some, and that no amount of evidence can change your mind, but economics is more complicated than you think. There's an entire paper, put out by Federal Reserve economists, debunking this whole idea that increasing supply is going to cut prices. But I'm sure you know better than they do. What do some of the brightest economists in the world know anyway, right?
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2019 09:58     Subject: Do you have any advice re: fighting popups/popbacks, etc?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:MYOB. Other people deserve housing too. NIMBYs like you are why there is a housing shortage.


Thanks, real estate developer. Please tell us all about how replacing homes for families with luxury condos costing nearly $1 million a pop is going to fix everything.


You're asking how increasing the housing supply will fix the housing shortage.


"Housing shortage." I think what you really mean is "housing shortage in neighborhoods that have schools that are even moderately acceptable." There's a lot of affordable housing in NE and Anacostia.


Fixed that for you.



Is that the code people use now? Also, not point out the obvious, but DC has a lottery system so parents can send their kids to schools anywhere, regardless of where they live.


Spoken like someone who's never participated in the DC lottery system.

Also, *every* dcps, and I believe every charter school, is majority minority. So throwing around the "racist" label with respect to people who prefer schools with some modicum of a high performance track record is pretty laughable.
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2019 09:54     Subject: Do you have any advice re: fighting popups/popbacks, etc?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:MYOB. Other people deserve housing too. NIMBYs like you are why there is a housing shortage.


Thanks, real estate developer. Please tell us all about how replacing homes for families with luxury condos costing nearly $1 million a pop is going to fix everything.


You're asking how increasing the housing supply will fix the housing shortage.


"Housing shortage." I think what you really mean is "housing shortage in neighborhoods that don't have too many black people." There's a lot of affordable housing in NE and Anacostia.



So by your definition there is no housing shortage until every last neighborhood in DC is gentrified? Personally I don't think we should wait till that point before adding supply.


No, I just think a lot of these people who are supposedly concerned about the affordability of housing are really just racists.
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2019 09:51     Subject: Re:Do you have any advice re: fighting popups/popbacks, etc?
So we have hit a couple of spaces on NIMBY bingo.

1. Don't add housing in my rich neighborhood, go gentrify somewhere east of the river, or else you are racist

2. Supply and demand don't apply to housing

3. When you say that adding housing supply is good, you are just like supply siders under Reagan, so I don't have to listen to you


But "its all about the Fed" is a new one.
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2019 09:48     Subject: Do you have any advice re: fighting popups/popbacks, etc?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:MYOB. Other people deserve housing too. NIMBYs like you are why there is a housing shortage.


Thanks, real estate developer. Please tell us all about how replacing homes for families with luxury condos costing nearly $1 million a pop is going to fix everything.


You're asking how increasing the housing supply will fix the housing shortage.


"Housing shortage." I think what you really mean is "housing shortage in neighborhoods that don't have too many black people." There's a lot of affordable housing in NE and Anacostia.



So by your definition there is no housing shortage until every last neighborhood in DC is gentrified? Personally I don't think we should wait till that point before adding supply.
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2019 09:43     Subject: Do you have any advice re: fighting popups/popbacks, etc?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:


Is that the code people use now? Also, not point out the obvious, but DC has a lottery system so parents can send their kids to schools anywhere, regardless of where they live.


Look where the schools people want are. Hint: not in Wards 7 and 8.



^^^2019 report on DC charter system commutes here: https://dcpcsb.egnyte.com/dl/myCFSlPmum/
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2019 09:40     Subject: Do you have any advice re: fighting popups/popbacks, etc?
Anonymous wrote:


Is that the code people use now? Also, not point out the obvious, but DC has a lottery system so parents can send their kids to schools anywhere, regardless of where they live.


Look where the schools people want are. Hint: not in Wards 7 and 8.

Anonymous
Post 07/23/2019 09:35     Subject: Do you have any advice re: fighting popups/popbacks, etc?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:MYOB. Other people deserve housing too. NIMBYs like you are why there is a housing shortage.


Thanks, real estate developer. Please tell us all about how replacing homes for families with luxury condos costing nearly $1 million a pop is going to fix everything.


You're asking how increasing the housing supply will fix the housing shortage.


"Housing shortage." I think what you really mean is "housing shortage in neighborhoods that have schools that are even moderately acceptable." There's a lot of affordable housing in NE and Anacostia.


Fixed that for you.



Is that the code people use now? Also, not point out the obvious, but DC has a lottery system so parents can send their kids to schools anywhere, regardless of where they live.
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2019 09:32     Subject: Do you have any advice re: fighting popups/popbacks, etc?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Looking for help fighting a really, really egregious popback/popup etc. that's coming to our block. Looking for any advice, any names we should be contacting about how to fight this.


Here’s my advice: don’t fight. Pop ups are good for density and thus they’re good for cities.

I have nothing to do with developers. I just want lower housing prices, for the good of the city. So I want more units. Many more units.



It's funny how so many people concerned about affordable housing have latched onto the importance of supply. In economics, that's called supply-side economics. Many people concerned about housing put such an extreme emphasis on supply that, if you were to put it on a political spectrum, they would be to the right of virtually every Republican you can think of.


No, it's not. It's called a basic understanding of supply and demand. Prices are high when demand exceeds supply. Increase supply to meet demand, and prices go down. (Prices would also go down if demand went down - for example, if people stopped wanting to live there.)

Here's Wikipedia's definition of supply-side economics: "Supply-side economics is a macroeconomic theory arguing that economic growth can be most effectively created by lowering taxes and decreasing regulation, by which it is directly opposed to demand-side economics. According to supply-side economics, consumers will then benefit from a greater supply of goods and services at lower prices and employment will increase."

If you don't like the Wikipedia definition, feel free to supply your own.


Housing prices are high because of the Federal Reserve, not because of the supply of housing. The supply of housing and the number of people in DC don't actually change very much from year to year, despite all the rhetoric. Why? Because it takes a long time to build a house and people do not move to new cities willy nilly. And yet housing prices go up so much. So what's happening? It's the Federal Reserve. When interest rates are low, a lot more people can get huge mortgages. If there's many more people able to get huge mortgages, there's more people with the ability to bid up the price of housing. That's why housing prices go up so much. When interest rates go up, housing prices will crash. People seem to think that DC is some magical place where prices will only go up. It's just not true.


Never have I encountered anyone so fixed on the idea that supply and demand have nothing to do with price.
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2019 09:31     Subject: Do you have any advice re: fighting popups/popbacks, etc?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:MYOB. Other people deserve housing too. NIMBYs like you are why there is a housing shortage.


Thanks, real estate developer. Please tell us all about how replacing homes for families with luxury condos costing nearly $1 million a pop is going to fix everything.


You're asking how increasing the housing supply will fix the housing shortage.


"Housing shortage." I think what you really mean is "housing shortage in neighborhoods that don't have too many black people." There's a lot of affordable housing in NE and Anacostia.


No, I meant housing shortage. The increase in the number of housing units has not kept up with the increase in population.

Meanwhile, even with your "affordable housing" areas in NE (like Brookland?) and Anacostia (not a synonym for "across the river"), nearly half of DC renters and a quarter of homeowners pay more than a third of their income on housing, and 23 percent of renters pay half or more of their income on housing.

https://apps.urban.org/features/amazon-hq2-washington-housing-charts/
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2019 09:30     Subject: Do you have any advice re: fighting popups/popbacks, etc?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Looking for help fighting a really, really egregious popback/popup etc. that's coming to our block. Looking for any advice, any names we should be contacting about how to fight this.


Here’s my advice: don’t fight. Pop ups are good for density and thus they’re good for cities.

I have nothing to do with developers. I just want lower housing prices, for the good of the city. So I want more units. Many more units.



It's funny how so many people concerned about affordable housing have latched onto the importance of supply. In economics, that's called supply-side economics. Many people concerned about housing put such an extreme emphasis on supply that, if you were to put it on a political spectrum, they would be to the right of virtually every Republican you can think of.


No, it's not. It's called a basic understanding of supply and demand. Prices are high when demand exceeds supply. Increase supply to meet demand, and prices go down. (Prices would also go down if demand went down - for example, if people stopped wanting to live there.)

Here's Wikipedia's definition of supply-side economics: "Supply-side economics is a macroeconomic theory arguing that economic growth can be most effectively created by lowering taxes and decreasing regulation, by which it is directly opposed to demand-side economics. According to supply-side economics, consumers will then benefit from a greater supply of goods and services at lower prices and employment will increase."

If you don't like the Wikipedia definition, feel free to supply your own.


Housing prices are high because of the Federal Reserve, not because of the supply of housing. The supply of housing and the number of people in DC don't actually change very much from year to year, despite all the rhetoric. Why? Because it takes a long time to build a house and people do not move to new cities willy nilly. And yet housing prices go up so much. So what's happening? It's the Federal Reserve. When interest rates are low, a lot more people can get huge mortgages. If there's many more people able to get huge mortgages, there's more people with the ability to bid up the price of housing. That's why housing prices go up so much. When interest rates go up, housing prices will crash. People seem to think that DC is some magical place where prices will only go up. It's just not true.
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2019 09:28     Subject: Do you have any advice re: fighting popups/popbacks, etc?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:MYOB. Other people deserve housing too. NIMBYs like you are why there is a housing shortage.


Thanks, real estate developer. Please tell us all about how replacing homes for families with luxury condos costing nearly $1 million a pop is going to fix everything.


You're asking how increasing the housing supply will fix the housing shortage.


"Housing shortage." I think what you really mean is "housing shortage in neighborhoods that have schools that are even moderately acceptable." There's a lot of affordable housing in NE and Anacostia.


Fixed that for you.
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2019 09:20     Subject: Do you have any advice re: fighting popups/popbacks, etc?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:MYOB. Other people deserve housing too. NIMBYs like you are why there is a housing shortage.


Thanks, real estate developer. Please tell us all about how replacing homes for families with luxury condos costing nearly $1 million a pop is going to fix everything.


You're asking how increasing the housing supply will fix the housing shortage.


"Housing shortage." I think what you really mean is "housing shortage in neighborhoods that don't have too many black people." There's a lot of affordable housing in NE and Anacostia.
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2019 09:19     Subject: Do you have any advice re: fighting popups/popbacks, etc?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Looking for help fighting a really, really egregious popback/popup etc. that's coming to our block. Looking for any advice, any names we should be contacting about how to fight this.


Here’s my advice: don’t fight. Pop ups are good for density and thus they’re good for cities.

I have nothing to do with developers. I just want lower housing prices, for the good of the city. So I want more units. Many more units.



It's funny how so many people concerned about affordable housing have latched onto the importance of supply. In economics, that's called supply-side economics. Many people concerned about housing put such an extreme emphasis on supply that, if you were to put it on a political spectrum, they would be to the right of virtually every Republican you can think of.


No, it's not. It's called a basic understanding of supply and demand. Prices are high when demand exceeds supply. Increase supply to meet demand, and prices go down. (Prices would also go down if demand went down - for example, if people stopped wanting to live there.)

Here's Wikipedia's definition of supply-side economics: "Supply-side economics is a macroeconomic theory arguing that economic growth can be most effectively created by lowering taxes and decreasing regulation, by which it is directly opposed to demand-side economics. According to supply-side economics, consumers will then benefit from a greater supply of goods and services at lower prices and employment will increase."

If you don't like the Wikipedia definition, feel free to supply your own.
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2019 09:17     Subject: Re:Do you have any advice re: fighting popups/popbacks, etc?
Housing prices are already coming down. Look at real estate listings. Home stay on the market a lot longer than they used to, and they aren't going for nearly as much as they would have a few years ago. It's amazing what even a small increase in interest rates will do to housing prices.