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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   29305 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 6, 2023

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Neighborhoods aren't fungible

Do you actually believe this? Do people really consider that "ABC Street", with its rows of one story suburban houses 10 minutes from nearby amenities is somehow different from "XYZ Street" with its rows of one story suburban houses 10 minutes from nearby amenities?

After all, if there is one constant in the property market, it is that people are constantly on the lookout for bigger, better housing. Do people's revealed preferences suggest that a large number of people really think that their neighbourhood is the only one that is nice and with good people?

I will accept there are a handful of places that you really can't replicate: a New York brownstone, a London Georgian terrace. But these places are already incredibly expensive and desirable. No amount of new building will make these areas any less desirable and expensive.

And if you want to talk aesthetics in particular, in some cases it is the nimby restrictions which cause the shortage of these types of housing! I can't talk for the US, but here in the UK the rise of the generic tower block and hideous "Deanobox" is overwhelmingly driven by property regulations.

People aren't fungible. Neighborhoods aren't fungible.

If but NIMBYs acknowledged this, I would have a much easier life. I would have loved to live close to my mother, grandmother, aunt, brothers, nephew, niece, and high school friends - but couldn't, because I'm priced out of living anywhere near them due to vastly risen costs. My brothers now moved far off, too. NIMBYism is exactly why I can't afford to live where I want: the salary that was enough in the 90s is nowhere close to being sufficient today.

Well, they do in fact acknowledge this, and that is why they don't want to sell their house and become the rich equivalent of a hermit. Nothing you said in this comment has addressed your interlocutor's comment in any way. I find this move of attempting to turn your interlocutor's argument against themselves to be logically confusing.

It's not an attempt to turn the argument against itself, it's the reality my brothers and I live in. The NIMBY's got theirs, and it means neighborhoods full of young families in their late 20s/early 30s are filled with people in their 50s. It has changed, and there is nowhere to go that doesn't involve upending my life wholesale.

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