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SabbathBoiseSabbath t1_j5b72tm wrote

Reply to comment by respaaaaaj in MaineHousing ready to spend $21 million to provide overnight shelters this winter by Shake-Spear4666

So while places build new housing for prices to maybe fall 10 or 20 years from now, eff the people that need relief right now?

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respaaaaaj t1_j5b81la wrote

Yes government policy needs to balance short and long term interests, but the biggest issue is that attempts at short term reductions in costs of housing frequently backfire and either don't help short term and hurt long term or just straight up hurt both. This shit should have been addressed 5 to 10 years ago, but the best that can realistically be done is start on it now. (And it doesn't take 10 to 20 years for newly built housing to impact housing, nor does it take 10 to 20 years to build new housing).

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SabbathBoiseSabbath t1_j5b9yy4 wrote

Government (at any level) really doesn't do long term planning at all. In fact, I can't think of a single policy or program that is long term focused, other than maybe public lands conservation.

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respaaaaaj t1_j5bawbi wrote

I guess that would depend on what you consider long term, because things like zoning, environmental protections (of any kind), fishery and wildlife management, infrastructure, tax credits aimed at promoting particular kinds of buildings products vehicles home upgrades (heat pumps extra insulation windows that retain more heat) etc are all what I'd call long term just off the top of my head.

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SabbathBoiseSabbath t1_j5bdsyh wrote

Yeah, this is true. My previous comment was certainly too lazy and lacked nuance.

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respaaaaaj t1_j5be8q0 wrote

You are right that outside of emergency relief there aren't many short term actions taken by governments in regards to housing, because all of the short term options that governments have tried have risks of backfiring both short and long term.

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