MapoTofuWithRice

MapoTofuWithRice t1_j6jsu0i wrote

Cities have tried to implement that kind of requirement for more than a decade and it never works. If you attach such an onerous affordable housing requirement to a development then the developer will laugh their way to another zip code and build somewhere else.

Give this a watch if you have some time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Flsg_mzG-M

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MapoTofuWithRice t1_j6joj1m wrote

Portland, and Maine in general, have only scratched the surface of meeting its housing demand. It might seem like there is a lot of construction, but this is nothing compared to where it needs to be. Maine is a hot commodity and people with money aren't going to stop moving here because we wish it. By stagnating housing supply you aren't punish tech workers or other boogieman with money- you're punishing people without the money to compete with them. If you don't build a new mid or high-rise they'll live in an old townhouse that might have otherwise remained affordable.

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MapoTofuWithRice t1_j6jircq wrote

First, new housing is expected to be the more expensive than old housing. Unless you're selling an antique, something new always fetches a higher premium than something old.

Second, that housing is so expensive isn't an indictment to the housing market, but to the policy decisions that made an extreme housing crises possible at all. Cities and countries that don't have extreme barriers or laborious bureaucratic hurdles to building more housing don't have the same problems with living costs that we see here in Maine.

Basically, blow up zoning and limit the amount of public input on whats built near them and the problem will self correct.

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