RulerOfTheRest t1_j6fsrum wrote
While the whole article is satire, there is a bit of truth in the concept of the article. Someone who moved down here in 2018 would likely have come down here for work or school. But since the pandemic, the lower cost of living became attractive to people who could work remotely while still commanding a higher salary, which in turn put pressure on the housing market causing housing prices and rent to increase far beyond the rate of inflation, therefore making it harder for those who were already established in the greater RVA to be able to afford to live here on their incomes that did not grow at the same rate...
User-NetOfInter t1_j6fwdzl wrote
It’s almost like they should support building more housing to accommodate this
oddistrange t1_j6g018g wrote
I want more mixed-use zoning.
HatefulDan t1_j6gh34v wrote
They are. It’s just that it’s unaffordable and are starting to resemble NOVA prices. It once was that if you charged over 1k for housing, that you’d have allllll the amenities. Now, even the shit sheds are 1k
User-NetOfInter t1_j6ghg6d wrote
They’re not building enough. The city still makes it too difficult to build more.
HatefulDan t1_j6gk6e9 wrote
Right. But if you continue to charge a premium+ price for each property that you DO develop, then it doesn’t matter how little or how many you build, if most people are still priced out.
User-NetOfInter t1_j6hpic2 wrote
Market powers will drive down premiums if you allow competition.
The only solution is to build more. Period.
PyreDruid t1_j6kg00p wrote
If you build enough housing, pricing will go down.
Supply and demand is real, you're talking about a situation where supply never is allowed to catch up.
Charlesinrichmond t1_j6idmty wrote
inflation sucks. Literally why its bad in a nutshell
RulerOfTheRest t1_j6g53nl wrote
As they should. The problem right now with interest rates so high and the cost of materials and labor being skewed, the growth of new housing isn't close to where it needs to be to help stabilize things...
gowhatyourself t1_j6hlppj wrote
This is why when people on here say they want more affordable housing I don't think they realize just how unaffordable newer construction would be for most people without massive subsidies the city doesn't have due to how they don't pull in revenue from the counties....where most people are moving anyway.
Charlesinrichmond t1_j6idrim wrote
they could cut cost of development in the city and it would be an effective massive subsidy. City costs a LOT more money to build in
User-NetOfInter t1_j6g8kcn wrote
Then they should control what they can control. Which is zoning and building permits
kickingpplisfun t1_j6gt751 wrote
Yeah, the rapid inflation of rents for people here for "affordable" housing drove me out of Richmond and back to my parents'...
In April, my rent went up by about 20%, then my roommate who makes a lot more than me left because I was unable to find another roommate who could get us to 3x income.
jas121091 t1_j6i88mb wrote
To go off of this, my parents live in one of the pricier neighborhoods in the West End. The couple who moved next door to them about a year ago are from Manhattan and have full-time WFH positions. They are in their low-to-mid 30s and still on an NYC salary, so the husband was telling me they were fortunate their budget allowed for them to buy a nicer house here vs. a decent apartment in NYC.
It was kind of eye-opening for me on how drastically more expensive it is to live there lol.
RVAforthewin t1_j6n5m1d wrote
I really hate to say this, and maybe I don’t fully believe it, but maybe there needs to be some sort of regulation that allows or encourages employers to pay salaries based on home of record given the explosion of WFH. Like I said, I haven’t fully thought that idea through so I’m sure there are issues with it. I’m just not sure what else to do because the populations of these major cities (NYC, LA, Phoenix, etc.) are so astronomically larger than RVA that there’s NO way we can support more than a minute influx, and that’s not even counting DC/NoVa. At some point, RVA could primarily be comprised of WFHers who migrate here from major cities while pulling in salaries twice what locals make. It feels no different than what’s happened to places like Aspen where millionaires turned it into a playground locals can no longer afford (albeit for very diff reasons).
MrPlowThatsTheName t1_j6ibi11 wrote
It wouldn’t be satire if there wasn’t an element of truth to it. That’s literally what satire is lol.
Charlesinrichmond t1_j6idk8f wrote
It's a quibble, but I'd put the start of that shift in 2016. It started before the pandemic. It just really snowballed in the pandemic
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments