Comment by ditonal | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ditonal | Hacker News Reader

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The narrative that housing is blocked by rich NIMBYs protecting their land value is true BUT

The less popular narrative that’s just as true, at least in California if you pay attention to the politics, is that PHIMBYs who are mostly renters and insist on 100% affordable or nothing, play just as big a role.

If you look at who blocked SB50 or who pitched the “Mission moratorium , it was PHIMBY renters.

It’s easy to rally people up against greedy rich people. But the elephant in the room is that so much resistance comes from poor people who think “luxury housing” (aka anything market rate) will lead to more gentrification.

You can agree or disagree with the PHIMBY position but most people find it complex enough they just pretend that faction doesn’t exist despite the huge role it plays.

> PHIMBYs

Basically don't exist. AHIMBYs do, but even people who demand affordable units don't want public units anywhere close to where they live.

> But the elephant in the room is that so much resistance comes from poor people who think “luxury housing” (aka anything market rate) will lead to more gentrification.

In any place without open space, the only way to build new housing is redevelopement; if you target the top of the market (which is what “market rate” housing means), you cannot have any hyperlocal (and wider, on a short-term scale) effect besides more gentrification.

The intermediate term, wider area (but still somewhat local) effect may be more affordable housing as existing housing becomes more down-market through competitive forces, but that also could be offset by further increasing nonhousing costs and reduction in nonhousing services targeting the lower income segment as the gentrifiers reshape local markets.

Acronym stands for Public Housing In My Backyard. (I had to look this up)

That's only true in relatively small areas. Most places resisting home construction are full of homeowners. The political impact is larger in SF/LA because they give left cover to homeowners, but even that's not a thing in most states and cities.

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