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zmanji | 12 years ago

As a visitor to SF I'm having a hard time trying to understand why there is so much anger directed towards 'techies' and not towards the city/mayor. Isn't it the mayor's responsibility to ensure that housing supply can meet demand and low income earners are not pushed out of the city entirely?

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prodigal_erik|12 years ago

I think it's fair to say the majority of SF residents strongly oppose increases to housing density through rebuilding, so the mayor and the supervisors should not be defying them. If SF residents also don't like the resulting market prices and gentrification, they need to change their minds about which is worse. I think what they really want is to be a city-state that can stop the farang/Ausländers from deciding to relocate there, but in the US they can't have that.

rhizome|12 years ago

How much did low-income earners contribute to the Mayor's last electoral campaign?

ams6110|12 years ago

No, that is not the mayor's job at all. Well it shouldn't be. If a mayor tries to make it his job, he'll fail because things like "housing supply" cannot be managed by government.

jw_|12 years ago

Governments set rules which directly affect markets - housing in particular is subject to tons of planning and manipulation by government. They absolutely can change supply.

Want to bring on more high-density housing? Change zoning rules so it is easier to get permits.

Housing regulations tend to be extremely local and I'm not a SF resident, but it is stunningly naive to claim that "housing supply" cannot be influenced by government. I realize Americans love to hate them, but city planning is one thing that governments are actually really helpful to have manage.

zmanji|12 years ago

Doesn't the city effectively control housing supply by issuing permits for new buildings and controlling zoning boundaries? I can see how the city cannot produce new housing but it seems they can definitely restrict housing supply.

drpgq|12 years ago

That's pretty much an impossible task.