| ▲ | crooked-v 3 days ago | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
> subsidizing families to relocate closer to schools Without changing the US' urban model to actually allow more homes, all that will do is keep the status quo and make everything more expensive. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | toomuchtodo 3 days ago | parent [-] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The US has a housing shortage [1] (~3M-8M units) that will persist long into the future due to a shortage of tradespeople [2], artificial land scarcity due to new builders constraining supply [3], etc. Upzoning and YIMBY are important components in increasing housing supply and affordability, but relocating folks closer to critical social systems (schools for families with school age children, hospitals and care facilities for seniors) versus expecting everyone to have a car or expecting school bus service when that transportation system is already reaching failure [4] [5] is also of some measurable value (imho). Remember, fertility rate is rapidly declining in almost every state [6] [7], so there should be fewer children in each subsequent educational cohort and families requiring locality near schools should trend downward over time (demographics are tricky and can change, so lots of assumptions relying on current trends as of this comment). A potential solution is for cities and communities to issue bonds, purchase housing near schools when the economics are favorable (ie try to avoid overpaying), and hold it as public affordable housing for families (perhaps in concert with upzoning; buy adjacent parcels, demo, and rebuild as more dense multi family). Political will is the wildcard. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42277358 (citations) [2] https://www.haas.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/Howard_Wang... (pages 22-23, 27 specifically) [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VryFaFsKhVE [4] https://www.epi.org/blog/the-school-bus-driver-shortage-rema... [5] https://www.ncsl.org/state-legislatures-news/details/states-... [6] https://usafacts.org/articles/how-have-us-fertility-and-birt... [7] https://usafacts.org/articles/what-will-americas-population-... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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