plummbob t1_ityxxyl wrote on October 27, 2022 at 10:03 AM

Reply to comment by fuqqboi_throwaway in Rent too damn high? Landlords have formed an illegal cartel according to several reports by cogitator_tertius

That's because rental prices are based on people's willingness to pay, not specifically tied to any given wage. Hell, if anything real income would fall hard if rva actually had really good sxhools, roads, etc.

Bad schools and shit infrastructure put downward pressure on rents. Good schools and public amenities raise rental prices.

fuqqboi_throwaway t1_itzb27f wrote on October 27, 2022 at 12:26 PM

But those “people” who are willing to pay arent people actually from Richmond or even living in it, it now consist of opportunistic slum lords and the parents of VCU and UofR kids Chadley and Olivia in NoVA who make 300k+ a year and will pay whatever they need for off-campus housing at universities that “can’t keep up” with on-campus student demand. $1800 rent seems perfectly reasonable when they’re paying triple that in Nova, even when the same RVA property was half that price 2 years before.

There’s clearly been a huge onset of gentrification fueled by greed and opportunity in the last few years...and when that isn’t matched with meaningful improvements to the life of the people that actually live in the area it’s affecting, it should be noted as an issue. Anyone that’s lived in Richmond a meaningful amount of time i.e 4+ years can see what’s happening to the city

plummbob t1_itzeiq3 wrote on October 27, 2022 at 12:56 PM

>But those “people” who are willing to pay arent people actually from Richmond

nativism is gross.

>There’s clearly been a huge onset of gentrification fueled by greed and opportunity in the last few years

people want to live near urban amenities. the city makes it hard to build housing. so the price goes up. moralizing about greed is stupid because even if people were super altruistic, the price would still go up by the same amount because people would still be bidding the rents.

>and when that isn’t matched with meaningful improvements to the life of the people that actually live in the area it’s affecting, it should be noted as an issue.

of course its an issue. we have this huge influx in investment, but without a corresponding output in housing. and its not because we lack a supply of wood, copper, drywall and concrete.

>Anyone that’s lived in Richmond a meaningful amount of time i.e 4+ years can see what’s happening to the city

been here about a decade. houses in my neighborhood have nearly doubled in price, but the city has kept the supply of homes capped at the same amount since its inception even though everybody has enough space to build 3 houses per lot, or a 4plex in every backyard, or each lot is big enough for townhome/shotgun style, or literally anything in the spectrum of the missing middle.

the problem is zoning. there is no reason why my neighborhood should have supply of housing fixed by policy when the prices are telling people to build.