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gruez 2 hours ago [-]
This article is terrible. It starts off talking about high vacancy rates for commercial properties, then segues to talking about housing shortages. Vacancy rates for housing is definitely not in the 27% range implied by the article. They're in the single digits, with the hottest housing markets also having the lowest rates.
Sorting by the census areas with the highest rates gets you areas like Jacksonville, FL, Baton Rouge, LA, and San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX. Superstar cities like SF and NY have rental vacancy rates of 5.5 and 5.4 respectively.
thundercleeze 4 hours ago [-]
As long as they don't let anyone build more housing: that'd ruin the character of the neighborhood.
triceratops 46 minutes ago [-]
Why not both? Subsidize development and permitting fees with vacancy taxes.
labcomputer 30 minutes ago [-]
Because development and permitting fees aren’t the problem. People already want to build new homes. We just don’t allow them to do so.
In fact, those subsidies are often part of the problem. The only way to get new development approved in many cases is to include a number of below-market units in the development… even though they are subsidized, that mandate kills the economics of the project. It happens often enough that you start to wonder if maybe that isn’t the point.
lern_too_spel 1 hours ago [-]
In my experience, the same people who oppose building more housing also oppose vacancy taxes.
https://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/current/index.html
https://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/data/rates.html
Sorting by the census areas with the highest rates gets you areas like Jacksonville, FL, Baton Rouge, LA, and San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX. Superstar cities like SF and NY have rental vacancy rates of 5.5 and 5.4 respectively.
In fact, those subsidies are often part of the problem. The only way to get new development approved in many cases is to include a number of below-market units in the development… even though they are subsidized, that mandate kills the economics of the project. It happens often enough that you start to wonder if maybe that isn’t the point.