[quote=FlyerInHi]BG, it’s not just a difference of opinion.
You’re out of touch because you keep on insisting certain things can’t be done when people are clearly doing them. California will grow, population will increase. Expensive or not, people will find housing. If needed, they’ll double up or triple up. Of course, it’d be better if housing were affordable so people can spend their money in other sectors of the economy.[/quote]Where did I ever insist that certain things couldn’t be done? I KNOW people are doubling and tripling and quadupling up to afford rentals in expensive cities. My own kids are doing that and have been doing that for 10-15 years (youngest for 2 years). People who move into built-out cities will accept the housing that is on offer there, room with someone who already has a rental or not move there at all. Those are their 3 choices. These cities don’t “owe” anyone (renter or buyer) new construction to move into.
It is not the amount prospective newcomers who determine population size of any given city. It is the amount of available housing units a city has at any given time which determine potential population growth. And that number in and of itself doesn’t actually indicate the population will grow when a unit is filled. For example, just because there is an opening (vacant room) in a flat in SF for a new prospective roommate, the person who ultimately moves into the room is only filling the slot of the person who recently moved out. The same goes for other established houses/units on the local market. Newcomers who fill these units are only replacing people who moved out of them into another unit the same city or elsewhere. There is no “population growth” if there is no new construction.
If you don’t build them, newcomers have no choice but to take what is on offer if they want to reside there. If newcomers don’t like what is on offer in the new locale they are considering moving to (price or dwelling or both), they will either room with someone else (who already owns or has a lease on a unit) or not move there at all …. plain and simple. This theory works in the real world and has worked throughout history.
