How do you think your city will change in ten years time?

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > How do you think your city will change in ten years time?

Badger of Basra: Jul 26, 2007

Corny posted:

The answer is complicated - yes, there are new condos and apartment buildings being built, there are a large number of developments that have gone up in Denver in the past six months and we only have more on the way. The issue however, is that they are marketed as "Luxury Apartments" and geared towards people looking to buy luxury apartments. There isn't enough affordable housing being built at a fast enough pace in Denver to offset the rise in housing prices caused by these developments being built. Thankfully; unlike SF, Denver and the Metro area has no shortage of land space to build upon, so that constraining factor isn't an issue here.

In theory this stuff will "filter" down in price over time, so this luxury stuff will be affordable in a couple decades. Also creating more apartments in general is going to push down rent, but if supply isn't keeping up with the flow of people into the city it won't help as much. That's the problem we have in Austin. Having to wait on the filtering sucks, but there is just no incentive for private developers to build low cost housing when there are so many people willing to pay more (unless some level of government kicks in some money or provides other incentives, like reduced parking requirements or other zoning changes).

quote:

Let me contrast this with Boulder. Boulder is famous for having an ordinance within the city charter that limits the amount of new building within the city to be 1% of population growth in that year, meaning almost no new housing ever gets constructed in Boulder.

Hahahahahaha this is so dumb oh my god

# ¿ Sep 4, 2016 02:42

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 04:53

Badger of Basra: Jul 26, 2007

Deep 13 posted:

Yeah, I live in Boulder now and it's absolutely infuriating. Another fun ordinance limits occupancy in ANY house to 3 (occasionally 4, depending on zoning) unrelated persons. Of course, plenty of people live in violation; a recent Slate piece profiles such a house. The residents were forced to disband when a neighbor threatened the landlord after they "came out of the closet" as a group house. The neighbor could have also called city code enforcement--this happens all the time. Significant fractions of the undergrad student, grad student, and service industry populations live under the threat of summary eviction.

While I think there are cracks in the status quo, in ten years Boulder will go down the path of the most anti-growth Bay Area municipalities. Occupancy may be modified to at least be based on number of bedrooms, but the web of restrictions will prevent any real relief for housing demand. Already, student housing has been bought out and illegally subdivided by the new owners--$700/mo for a 70 square foot bedroom before the city made them remove the dividers. Now they're paying $700/mo to share a 140 square foot bedroom with someone else. Old guard political groups in town are bringing in speakers from SF talking about how housing doesn't obey supply and demand, so it will get worse before it gets better. Boulder also removed bike lanes due to political pressure last year, as if you needed another reason to hate this place.

So are the people doing this crazy poo poo old hippies or professors or what?

# ¿ Sep 4, 2016 03:44

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