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I think if people do this, it is only out of desperation, and won't result in long term residence. Nothing about Santa Cruz says "high rise living."

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At one point in time, nothing about New York City or Hong Kong said "high rise living." Then they became popular and demand changes the nature of the city.

NYC and HK are perfect examples where adding supply did not solve the problem of high cost of living. That's the risk in Santa Cruz - that we lose the unique the character and it remains expensive.

NYC has much lower costs of living than Santa Cruz. Not cheap, but still cheaper. They also have better ability to get out a little and get a lot cheaper places to live.

Hong Kong is politically constrained.

That said, high rise is enough more expensive that I wouldn't expect cheap units to be in those buildings in general (unless the penthouse is valuable enough to subside lower levels). The mid rise (~5 floors) is a much better deal for most people.

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