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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   2577 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 30, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

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The budget has funding for an additional 131k units by 2031

Every time I see something like this my head spins. You don't need to budget for housing, it literally builds itself if you let it.

I often have the same reaction. But to add some nuance, you don't need to budget for market-rate housing. You do need to budget for below-market-rate housing. Of course, it's probably a lot more cost effective to fix the regulations so market rate is lower so there's a lot less need for below-market-rate housing.

To paraphrase a great man of our era: regulate it until it stops moving. Then subsidize it.

At first glance that might sound like a libertarian quip, but I think it more or less describes a good portion of government actions.

Building new units in any significant quantity is practically illegal. Also housing vouchers for poor people. Sorry, all we can do is restrict supply and subsidize demand.

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