Boomer logic: considering yourself a proud capitalist while resisting new housing supply because of “character” “parking” while experiencing collective amnesia about the post-war ownership society where the housing “market” was built on the back of older tax payers.
Honestly if they’d have just built some freakin (affordable) houses millennials would have been fine. Instead we have click-baity pitty-articles about how some retiree can’t sell their 5000sqft $1.5mil dream homes to debt-strapped 30-somethings.
Boomer logic: oppose every new construction project anywhere near your neighborhood and mock millennials when they find there is a scarcity of affordable housing.
I don’t think this is inherent to Boomers so much as the general reaction of people who have chosen to live someplace specifically because it has a small town feel.
Instead of finding new ways to cram people into smaller spaces, we should be trying to incentivize businesses to spread out and open new branches. This has the side effect of encouraging diversity and social mobility.
Converting sprawling residential areas into high-density urban areas without upgrading infrastructure and public transit like we have been doing leads to a lot of issues.
People are gradually getting stuck choosing between skyrocketing real estate prices and massive contention for shared resources in urban areas, or languishing opportunities and pay in rural areas.
Not to mention the consequences of climate change, and the additional risk of concentrating more people in fewer places. Or the impact on political power due to the way the Senate and Electoral College are structured.
So I disagree that this is just a “housing crisis” where building more housing is the obvious solution. That will lead to secondary costs and problems that could well be crises themselves. Plus I think we have enough housing, it’s just that there aren’t equal opportunities across the country where the housing surplus exists.
Rezoning plans usually include refactoring to current infrastructure and public transit. If you let things sprawl then you make infrastructure and public transit cost more and less likely to ever happen. Take Austin for example, they've spent millions on rezoning plans and they always get shut down from the NIMBY types. Meanwhile lower income individuals in Austin suffer due to poor public transportation and increasing cost of living. Additionally adding more efficient and convenient public transportation cuts down on personal vehicle usage and having people live in higher densities incentivizes public transportation efforts. If there is too much sprawl they can't really meet the needs of everyone and remain convenient.
When I was at Fairchild AFB for SERE training we had a break before it started and we got a ride into Spokane's Downtown. Immediately upon exiting the vehicle we saw a guy in front of a bar getting beat up by several people surrounding him and kicking him. Across the street a guy was staring at us and then lifted up his shirt to flash a piece. That combined with the memories of SERE training make me never want to return.
Spokane seemed to have many pretty parts but many violent aggressive guys on the streets and apparently a huge problem with violent white nationalists from what I understand
Title: Millennials are flocking to the Pacific Northwest, study finds
Article: 2017 data suggests the westward trend has faded in recent years, in favor of areas like New Haven-Milford, Connecticut; Madison, Wisconsin; and Syracuse, New York.
So it sounds like the title should have been "Millennials are flocking East, study finds"
Yeah I could see some of the sleepier east coast towns picking up. I know places like Portland Maine are pretty appealing to myself and other millennials but not sure if I could do the cold thing. Seems like all the lesser known metropolitan areas are picking up a lot of steam right now. Boise Idaho for example has also appealed to me.
I am not a millennial (born in 1977) but the combination of the strong regional economy and access to natural beauty (Puget Sound, Pacific Ocean, Olympic Peninsula, etc) is really amazing.
On top of this, the area has a significant resistance to the kind of temperature highs that are hitting most of the country right now. I spent the weekend camping on Vancouver Island where the high was 71 when I was there.
20 comments
[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 61.8 ms ] threadHonestly if they’d have just built some freakin (affordable) houses millennials would have been fine. Instead we have click-baity pitty-articles about how some retiree can’t sell their 5000sqft $1.5mil dream homes to debt-strapped 30-somethings.
Instead of finding new ways to cram people into smaller spaces, we should be trying to incentivize businesses to spread out and open new branches. This has the side effect of encouraging diversity and social mobility.
Converting sprawling residential areas into high-density urban areas without upgrading infrastructure and public transit like we have been doing leads to a lot of issues.
People are gradually getting stuck choosing between skyrocketing real estate prices and massive contention for shared resources in urban areas, or languishing opportunities and pay in rural areas.
Not to mention the consequences of climate change, and the additional risk of concentrating more people in fewer places. Or the impact on political power due to the way the Senate and Electoral College are structured.
So I disagree that this is just a “housing crisis” where building more housing is the obvious solution. That will lead to secondary costs and problems that could well be crises themselves. Plus I think we have enough housing, it’s just that there aren’t equal opportunities across the country where the housing surplus exists.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
PS. Spokane is terrible nobody should move here.
You might be able to make $80k as an engineer if you really push for it
You can buy a lordly mansion for $700k and the floor's the limit on normal houses
Spokane sucks. Tell your friends.
(shamelessly stolen from a great bumper sticker I spotted in Bend)
edit* Whoosh! It's not as funny if I have to explain it to you... my downvoter probably missed the \s in GP too.
Article: 2017 data suggests the westward trend has faded in recent years, in favor of areas like New Haven-Milford, Connecticut; Madison, Wisconsin; and Syracuse, New York.
So it sounds like the title should have been "Millennials are flocking East, study finds"
On top of this, the area has a significant resistance to the kind of temperature highs that are hitting most of the country right now. I spent the weekend camping on Vancouver Island where the high was 71 when I was there.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_metropolitan_area
I think this trend has a few decades left to go, especially as trans-Pacific trade (hopefully) continues to increase.