I immediately came here to comment when I heard of another person who loved filling out forms as a kid! I’m sure there are others who went down the pipeline from form-lover in childhood to spreadsheet-lover (and recently, database-lover) in adulthood. I’m a naturally messy person; I take a lot of joy in creating order where I can.
Whenever I think about the housing shortage, and the building of affordable housing I always ask the question why are we building affordable housing in the most expensive places in the world. Does it make sense to build affordable apts in Malibu? I think everyone should have the right to be able to be housed but I don't know if everyone should have the right live in Malibu? So my thoughts generally go to why don't we build new cities anymore, I see people moving to less expensive cities but not a lot of new cities are being made.
In America we are not running out of space, if you ever have had to drive through Nebraska on a road trip you realize there is a LOT of empty space. We need the government to incentives business and people to take risks and make new cities, maybe ones that have good infrastructure plans to start with.
It's pointless to do otherwise. We build housing where people are and where people want to live. How are you going to force people to move to Nebraska? Just tell them that's where the poors have to go now? .
New cities also don't solve this, although they are a good idea. If you were able to jumpstart new cities you would immediately run into the problem of nicer areas in those cities getting more expensive. And there would be nimbys. And people in those cities would start posting on the Internet about why can't we just move all the poors to Nebraska and then our problems would be solved.
I get that reality is much harder. And I don't want to force people to move anywhere. My thought is more of the government could invest in development elsewhere it would make more people willing to take the risk of trailblazing a new city. There would also be nimbys there as you mentioned but if it is setup with proper zoning then they would have to fight against what is already coded instead of the easier fight of not changing the current codes.
We should build more housing in the existing cities because that’s where the jobs are and where people want to live. Cities benefit from agglomeration economies. Hard to jumpstart those from scratch with new cities. Besides, there is plenty of space to build more in our existing cities. The entire west side of San Francisco should be torn down and replaced with apartment towers.
As for whether that new housing should be “affordable” (read: “developer is mandated to give discounts to poor people”), I think that’s the wrong strategy. Let a million luxury condo towers bloom and the rich people will empty out of the crappy old housing into the new, better housing. Landlords of the old housing will be obliged to cut rent to fill their units.
Maybe it depends on the city. But when a city is founded without a plan for growth and you keep adding density without proper infrastructure then it just gets bad.
I agree new cities are difficult to jumpstart which is why you need government incentives, so instead of cities like Los Angeles trying to build $600,000 affordable units we could be using resources to develop new attractive living spaces in cheaper areas.
The great thing with the rise of remote work it should be easier than ever because you need less employers to actually move there as well.
we just cannot force people to move to where they don't want to. you see a lot of discourse about the supposed "housing surplus" as an argument for why we don't really need to build new housing or apartments, but those numbers are usually averaged over the country. so of course a bunch of small towns with less than 100k population will have plenty of empty housing, but then you go to boston, LA, san francisco, ny, and you have SEVERE shortages because of bs zoning, rich homeowners blocking any kind of development, etc, etc. people want to live in San Francisco, not in random town in the countryside.
> But when a city is founded without a plan for growth and you keep adding density without proper infrastructure then it just gets bad
This is something people say but it has no bearing in reality. Do you think Paris was planned for density? London? New York? Every major European city was cobbled together over many generations, they're all rather dense, and they manage to solve their problems.
First, I love you PJ. One of my fave podcast hosts and so disappointed that reply all is over… didn’t know about this new show until I heard an excerpt from the episode about drinking airplane coffee. I’m here to tell you, as a flight attendant for 8 years, + married to a pilot of 26 years … I always drank the coffee. It’s not good, but it won’t hurt you. And yes! Wash your freakin hands in the lab! Gross! Yes it all comes from the same water tank. So does your home water! How often do you clean your water lines and hot water heater?!
"Despite some evidence to the contrary, I think we usually tend to figure out problems out. And not in the big screaming places, but in meetings like this one, where bureaucrats try to hammer out solutions in uncomfortable chairs over bad coffee in meetings that go on too long."
I found this to be a beautiful way to think about the work done by the unseen and unthanked civil servants who try to make our society work better. Thanks for a great episode.
I am a little late to the affordable housing episode, but was very interested in it and have appreciated the discourse found here. My question is how the home-rental-gig economy is affecting this issue, if at all. Is that just a nominal % of housing that wouldn’t move the scale on the larger lack of affordable housing issue or is the fact that some people who can afford to own one house are buying additional properties to rent out on a temp basis, and contributing to the lack of available homes in desirable areas? (Air B&B, VRBO and the like). I know I have have had misgivings of my own when I rent a home that is clearly just an income property, not the owner’s occasional residence.
I have thought this for years, especially old school buildings. Those classrooms probably would be ideal for a small family or a couple or a single person. You see all these old buildings in particular in low income neighborhoods, and it could easily make a huge difference for some people to have affordable housing that is still safe and in your community. You could even have it be like a communal space there’s a huge cafeteria and old school buildings there’s a gymnasium you could have you know a community kitchen I don’t know. It just seems to me that there are so many opportunities out there, that some brilliant business person could make it work. If you’re in an impoverished area, you would think that zoning would be open to non-traditional ideas.
So glad to find your new podcast. I'm loving it so far! However (comma) while the the bumper music / theme music is really cool, the volume is much louder than the rest of the podcast. If I'm listening in my car and forget to turn down the volume, it's almost painfully loud. Even in the end credits, talking over the music, as soon as the talking ends, the music cranks. Here's hoping you agree and can turn it down, even just a little. I'll keep listening regardless, though.
This is a super late comment but I just listened to the playlist put together for the music discovery episode and I would honestly pay for like a monthly Search Engine music playlist like that. I thought it was not only hot as fuck - but also reflected what I think the state of music is today really well. I loved it.
I immediately came here to comment when I heard of another person who loved filling out forms as a kid! I’m sure there are others who went down the pipeline from form-lover in childhood to spreadsheet-lover (and recently, database-lover) in adulthood. I’m a naturally messy person; I take a lot of joy in creating order where I can.
Whenever I think about the housing shortage, and the building of affordable housing I always ask the question why are we building affordable housing in the most expensive places in the world. Does it make sense to build affordable apts in Malibu? I think everyone should have the right to be able to be housed but I don't know if everyone should have the right live in Malibu? So my thoughts generally go to why don't we build new cities anymore, I see people moving to less expensive cities but not a lot of new cities are being made.
In America we are not running out of space, if you ever have had to drive through Nebraska on a road trip you realize there is a LOT of empty space. We need the government to incentives business and people to take risks and make new cities, maybe ones that have good infrastructure plans to start with.
It's pointless to do otherwise. We build housing where people are and where people want to live. How are you going to force people to move to Nebraska? Just tell them that's where the poors have to go now? .
New cities also don't solve this, although they are a good idea. If you were able to jumpstart new cities you would immediately run into the problem of nicer areas in those cities getting more expensive. And there would be nimbys. And people in those cities would start posting on the Internet about why can't we just move all the poors to Nebraska and then our problems would be solved.
Reality is unfortunately much harder
I get that reality is much harder. And I don't want to force people to move anywhere. My thought is more of the government could invest in development elsewhere it would make more people willing to take the risk of trailblazing a new city. There would also be nimbys there as you mentioned but if it is setup with proper zoning then they would have to fight against what is already coded instead of the easier fight of not changing the current codes.
We should build more housing in the existing cities because that’s where the jobs are and where people want to live. Cities benefit from agglomeration economies. Hard to jumpstart those from scratch with new cities. Besides, there is plenty of space to build more in our existing cities. The entire west side of San Francisco should be torn down and replaced with apartment towers.
As for whether that new housing should be “affordable” (read: “developer is mandated to give discounts to poor people”), I think that’s the wrong strategy. Let a million luxury condo towers bloom and the rich people will empty out of the crappy old housing into the new, better housing. Landlords of the old housing will be obliged to cut rent to fill their units.
Maybe it depends on the city. But when a city is founded without a plan for growth and you keep adding density without proper infrastructure then it just gets bad.
I agree new cities are difficult to jumpstart which is why you need government incentives, so instead of cities like Los Angeles trying to build $600,000 affordable units we could be using resources to develop new attractive living spaces in cheaper areas.
The great thing with the rise of remote work it should be easier than ever because you need less employers to actually move there as well.
we just cannot force people to move to where they don't want to. you see a lot of discourse about the supposed "housing surplus" as an argument for why we don't really need to build new housing or apartments, but those numbers are usually averaged over the country. so of course a bunch of small towns with less than 100k population will have plenty of empty housing, but then you go to boston, LA, san francisco, ny, and you have SEVERE shortages because of bs zoning, rich homeowners blocking any kind of development, etc, etc. people want to live in San Francisco, not in random town in the countryside.
> But when a city is founded without a plan for growth and you keep adding density without proper infrastructure then it just gets bad
This is something people say but it has no bearing in reality. Do you think Paris was planned for density? London? New York? Every major European city was cobbled together over many generations, they're all rather dense, and they manage to solve their problems.
First, I love you PJ. One of my fave podcast hosts and so disappointed that reply all is over… didn’t know about this new show until I heard an excerpt from the episode about drinking airplane coffee. I’m here to tell you, as a flight attendant for 8 years, + married to a pilot of 26 years … I always drank the coffee. It’s not good, but it won’t hurt you. And yes! Wash your freakin hands in the lab! Gross! Yes it all comes from the same water tank. So does your home water! How often do you clean your water lines and hot water heater?!
Best episode so far! Congratulations. This one reminded me a little of Freakonimics Radio, another of my favorite shows
"Despite some evidence to the contrary, I think we usually tend to figure out problems out. And not in the big screaming places, but in meetings like this one, where bureaucrats try to hammer out solutions in uncomfortable chairs over bad coffee in meetings that go on too long."
I found this to be a beautiful way to think about the work done by the unseen and unthanked civil servants who try to make our society work better. Thanks for a great episode.
That bear does not look remotely human! Especially when it sits down!
Also, love the show!
Thanks! I continue to be somewhat of a bear skeptic.
Seattle office building is set for apartment conversion
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/real-estate/seattle-office-building-is-set-for-apartment-conversion/
I am a little late to the affordable housing episode, but was very interested in it and have appreciated the discourse found here. My question is how the home-rental-gig economy is affecting this issue, if at all. Is that just a nominal % of housing that wouldn’t move the scale on the larger lack of affordable housing issue or is the fact that some people who can afford to own one house are buying additional properties to rent out on a temp basis, and contributing to the lack of available homes in desirable areas? (Air B&B, VRBO and the like). I know I have have had misgivings of my own when I rent a home that is clearly just an income property, not the owner’s occasional residence.
I have thought this for years, especially old school buildings. Those classrooms probably would be ideal for a small family or a couple or a single person. You see all these old buildings in particular in low income neighborhoods, and it could easily make a huge difference for some people to have affordable housing that is still safe and in your community. You could even have it be like a communal space there’s a huge cafeteria and old school buildings there’s a gymnasium you could have you know a community kitchen I don’t know. It just seems to me that there are so many opportunities out there, that some brilliant business person could make it work. If you’re in an impoverished area, you would think that zoning would be open to non-traditional ideas.
So glad to find your new podcast. I'm loving it so far! However (comma) while the the bumper music / theme music is really cool, the volume is much louder than the rest of the podcast. If I'm listening in my car and forget to turn down the volume, it's almost painfully loud. Even in the end credits, talking over the music, as soon as the talking ends, the music cranks. Here's hoping you agree and can turn it down, even just a little. I'll keep listening regardless, though.
This is a super late comment but I just listened to the playlist put together for the music discovery episode and I would honestly pay for like a monthly Search Engine music playlist like that. I thought it was not only hot as fuck - but also reflected what I think the state of music is today really well. I loved it.
Valid points, thanks for this PJ!
Thank you for bringing back YesYesNo (even if by another name)!
The European Dance song link is broken for me (Through Twitter redirect antics or "foggy, be-cobwebbed brain")
This appears to be the correct -catchy- version: https://twitter.com/kylegordon101/status/1684963728427462656?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Thanks Shawn, fixing now.