When developers build apartments in pedestrian-heavy areas, many cities require restaurants or retail on the ground floor. The idea is to encourage people to walk, rather than drive, to shop and dine.
But developers often lose money on those storefronts, and those costs get passed on to renters through higher housing prices.
Oh yes, why won’t anyone think about the developers? This is such bullshit.
- Crack down on price fixing
- Don’t let corporations run AirBNBs or similar
- Don’t let corporations own any rental building over approximately 10 units.
- Don’t let rental buildings have more than a low percentage of empty units for turn around. They have to lower the rent then. If it goes to $200/month, then so be it.
There are so many things to try, but having Trickle Down Housing as an excuse really pisses me off.
Yep, its bullshit. You want people to live near work. That includes retail and restaurant workers. Getting rid of these spaces just means people in the city will have to drive to the burbs to eat out or shop. If anything, there should be an incentive program for landlords to discount rent for people that work in the same building.
Yep, you’re right.
It’s the “I’ve tried nothing, so let’s help the developers and see if that works” approach. I was hoping he wasn’t going to be this bad, but alas, he is.
It also cuts down on Yimbyism. I’m happy when I see dense housing go in, not only for the relief it brings to housing prices but also because I know the neighborhood will likely get more interesting to visit because of the shops/etc.
You know who’d make a great tenant on the first floor of a dense multi-unit apartment development?
A small state-run grocery store.
I lived above a grocery store for a while. It’s great, highly recommend.
Housing prices will drop in the next 20 years as so many boomers die and millennials are gen xers sell to pay off their debts.
Not if corporations buy up the stock. We have to make it illegal for them to own the stock.
