The Real Villain in the Gentrification Story
“When wealthy homeowners oppose new development in their neighborhoods—and when elected officials let them get their way—fewer homes are built overall, contributing to America’s undersupply crisis and raising prices for everyone. Their opposition also pushes what housing does get built into a handful of places where dissent is weaker.”
I find the housing market incredibly depressing. I'm watching neighbors in their 30s who are shut out of the market, even as they're working good jobs and doing fairly well. I've said this a lot lately, but we can't house everyone and treat housing a wealth generating asset. Those two things are antithetical, because homeowners want their investment to increase and are doing all they can to make sure that happens, which means they don't want more housing built, especially not near them.