[quote=bearishgurl][quote=Myriad]
Scott’s quote said he “would like” to stay near family. No where does he say he expects or should.
I think Scott makes a valid point about SF. Just because no new housing is built doesn’t mean people don’t move in. Prices just go up for long time residents, locals, seniors, new residents, etc.
Then people want rent control which is entirely the wrong answer. The correct answer is to build more supply.
It probably won’t be SFR, but it makes sense to build more dense multi-family with good mass transit options. Just look at Asia, where many shopping areas, and restaurants, have residential mixed in.
The problem with not doing anything is that eventually prices become extremely expensive for both renters and owners, and traffic becomes terrible. So yeah, people that are still here have their homes, but the overall society is worse.[/quote]
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Rent-controlled tenants have more stringent protections than do market-rate tenants under their municipal code.
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There is no other place on earth just like it and certainly no other city compares to it in the US.
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This time-consuming procedure of getting homeowner input and going through multiple public hearings to listen to community testimony could increase the permit time from 1.5 years to as much as 4 years for a typical 1-4 unit dwelling. Completing the permitting process for a high-rise residential project in SF could take up to 15 yrs, depending on the amount of surrounding neighbors, the district and what is proposed to be built.
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Asia (China?) has many grossly OVERbuilt cities and its planning was virtually non-existent with horrific consequences … including fouling their own air to the point that city residents and workers wear face masks just to walk to/from work to the train and do their errands.
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OTOH, San Franciscans, like longtime residents of many other CA coastal communities, don’t want more density in their districts.
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The streets are too steep and the lots too narrow, in many cases, to build parking garages under the living units.
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Well not surprisingly, BG provides a close-minded, negative, and unnecessarily verbose answer.
On rent control – Actually I have no idea where your response came from. I wasn’t saying that existing renters with rent-controlled apartments will get kicked out. But now that you brought it up, the problem of rent-controlled is that it artificially reduces supply (basic supply/demand economics) and is biased against new residents (also may impact individual economic mobility for existing rent-controlled residents).
On SF being unique in the world – That’s obvious, but also completely pointless. The same thing can be said about any tier 1 city (HK, London, Paris, NYC, etc).
SF permitting – I’ll take your word on the details. But the permit process is why housing is so expensive in SF. http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-novel-move-to-expand-housing-in-san-francisco-1469578675
“Grappling with a housing shortage that has sent rents soaring 50% since the recession, city officials on Tuesday passed legislation allowing landlords to carve fresh apartments out of underutilized spaces, including storage areas and utility rooms.”
On Asia – I didn’t specify China. Have you actually traveled to any major Asian city in the last 5 years? Ever?
I’m not going to talk about the air/water/land quality in China. What the topic discussed was the integration of commerical/residential/mass transit. People don’t drive cars everywhere and are able to live peacefully though in a more dense population. Not every country is blessed with the wealth, space, and resources of the US. But, the urban planning is something that should be studied and the parts that work, we in the US should learn from.
The streets are too steep and the lots too narrow, in many cases, to build parking garages under the living units.
LOL, nothing in SF is too steep and narrow. Look at anything on Hong Kong Island.
BG, I encourage you to visit Hong Kong, Tokyo, Bangkok, and even Shanghai to gain some perspective.
