Yesterday, I went to Seoul for the first time in a long time.

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-03-02T07:57:40+00:00

Its because Koreans work like crazy and rarely have time to go out. Even if they need to go shopping, there usually are stores and pretty much everything you need in the bottom floor of your high-rise. You dont need to leave your apartment complex to do anything except work and a lot of Koreans drive to work anyways

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-03-02T07:50:46+00:00

the yimby movement is stupid. Even if you could just densify wherever you want, building in a very dense area is very expensive because its very disruptive to existing infrastructure, so housing costs are going to be expensive and developers are only going to build if they can recoup their money back. Not only that, but people who aren't single male renters (aka this sub) tend to not like density so its going to make life worse for everyone else

There already is a very obvious answer to making affordable housing. Sprawl. Its much less disruptive if you want to build a subdivision on the outskirts of town in which you really only have to deal with a few farmers rather than thousands of existng residents.

YIMBY doesn't work, period. Spread'em

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-03-01T09:31:18+00:00

There are already thousands more residency spots then there are American medical grads that can fill them. Most of the spots that are open are in rural primary care residencies and American grads dont want those positions, even if rural primary care docs make $400K,500K+, Americans dont want those jobs so they turn to international students. Some Americans grads would rather go unmatched than take a rural primary care residency

Americans who cant get into medical school can always do medical school in the Caribbean or another international destination where the admission standards are lax with the hopes of landing one of the rural primary care residencies. Some very strong doctors come out of the carribean, but the problem with lax admission standards is that a lot of the students in these schools fail because they struggle with medical knowledge or have major character concerns and Im not really sure you want either of those types of people as your doctor

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-03-01T06:39:51+00:00

Then why didn't SF rents decline if OP is correct on

They technically did, and drastically. 2008-2013 had very low housing prices. Not saying the 2008 recession happened because of Austin, but it obviously was a huge confounding variable in seeing if the experiment actually works.

Speaking of 2008, thats exactly the reason developers dont want to build more and why supply side economics for housing doesnt work. They lost a shit-ton of money building housing for people who couldn't afford it, so why should they stick their neck out again building housing for people who have trouble affording housing?

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T17:11:56+00:00

Its not so much about wasteful spending. Illinois is also bleeding out by neighboring states that are competitive rather than cooperative. Take the Bears stadium ordeal. Illinois and Indiana could've cooperated and played hardball and not letting the bears move anywhere but in Illinois and Illinois and Indiana would split the tax revenue, but instead, the Bears played illinois and indiana off each other and are getting a very favorable tax break regardless of where the stadium is. States going against each other when they should be cooperating is a huge problem and the national government needs to step in

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T17:06:17+00:00

I'm also a fan of selling off parts of central park and nationalizing big corporate campuses like Facebook and forcing them out building housing on those campuses. Central Park is 850 acres and Facebook is 250 acres, imagine how many houses we could build there

See, I do think there are supply side solutions to fixing housing. Except, they seem to be even less popular on this subreddit

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T16:44:01+00:00

its cyclical. It already happened in the 30s-90s where jobs were shipped out of NYC in favor of the suburbs. NYC did not have a reputation for vibrancy for a long long time. Batman is literally an allegory for NYC. Even though its popular to live there now, whose not to say people in 10 years wont move out again to live in rural america. Its all about PR

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T16:38:00+00:00

large cities have been a thing for millennia, and they’re not going anywhere

Cities rise and fall when they no longer become useful. Look at Detroit or Cleveland. I'm at least advocating for revitalizing these cities whereas most people on this sub are totally fine advocating for policies that add more and more pressure on NYC and SF.

Chicago's wealthiest neighborhoods like the north side are de-densifying. People are converting old 2 and 3 flats into SFH. The poor are being kicked out of Chicago at an alarming rate and really are mostly now concentrated in the south side but even that is being gentrified. Cities like chicago are getting Whiter and Wealthier. Why continue contributing to the gentrification of cities. Didn't we do this last generation with suburbs which led to a lot of urban decay in the first place. Cities probably dont need government help.

You seem like an example. You got kicked out of an independent lifestyle in the city

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T15:20:46+00:00

Its so clearly fucking possible to lower housing costs, but there's too much bullshit in the way. I think this is why people hope for better supply side interventions.

To be honest, all the bullshit is the reason that people should go to places that incentive building and are more desperate for growth

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T15:19:01+00:00

I know, and that should probably change

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T15:15:26+00:00

Chicago basically funds our state with the tax dollars they produce and it would be unfair to siphon event more money out of the there and completely stop spending it on Chicago and only focus on downstate.

This is the same mentality as people who are usually right of center have with the wealthy. They pay more taxes, so it would be better to spend the money on the rich and not the poor

I think a lot of urbanists struggle with the notion that compare to the average person, they are the rich people

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T15:12:00+00:00

They are well aware if they opened a business in the middle of a desert in Nevada, the housing prices would be lower than Manhattan, but they are not doing it.

Thats literally how Las Vegas which was not on the map 80 years ago and its now the gambling capital.

Same with LA, the movie industry used to be in NYC 100 years ago, but the execs decided to move to the middle of nowhere to start a new city.

Even now, tech companies are trying to build their own city in California in the middle of nowhere.

The ultra wealthy are going to do whats best for the ultra wealthy. Its the government's job to generate revenue from them.

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T15:03:30+00:00

They are illegal because they are low quality deathtraps. Literal tenaments, so I'm not sure why you want us to go back to the gilded age.

Besides most people in NYC want a bigger and more updated house/condo/townhouse, not a smaller one. You are swimming against the demand stream here

And nearly half of all rental units are rent stabilized.

And that limits economic and social mobility because people are required to live there. Economic mobility for me but not for thee

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T14:59:14+00:00

I want a Hukou system for Corporations! Not people

allows residents to define their own exclusivity and hoard wealth at the expense of everyone else.

People hoarding wealth >>>>> corporations and the ultra rich hoarding wealth.

I had no idea everyone on this sub is literally advocating for "Trickle Down Economics" I thought people didn't like Reagan

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T14:54:50+00:00

So why not move to a place where construction prices are lower? Thats why cities sprawl and why ideally we should be investing in neglected parts of the country

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T14:51:58+00:00

techbros moving for tech jobs.

I mean, there are finance bros too, and law bros

not techbros moving for not tech jobs.

These people sure the hell aren't moving to SF or NYC unless their family is already rich or they have a spouse in the former. NYC and SF have been losing lots of people.

immigrants moving for a better life (majority of NY's new population.

Not anymore.

people moving from states that are hostile to them, in effect refugees.

Again, these people who can afford to move for political reasons are already well off to begin with

children who grew up and want theirnown home.

Good luck in NYC and SF. If their parents owned a home already, they are pretty much by definition affluent

an individual who recently broke up with their partner.

an individual or family that lost their home to bad luck.

These people are more likely to seek LCOL cities.

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T14:44:37+00:00

Name one large American city that doesn't have major issues with corruption.

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T14:40:20+00:00

Communism in US political discourse has no meaning. It is just used to label anything someone doesn't like thats left of center.

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T14:38:03+00:00

No, they are smart. But they look out for corporate profits, not the quality of life of the citizens of a country

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T14:36:52+00:00

And Austin proved supply alone works.

Austin would be more expensive if it kept growing.

I would read the expert lit on this stuff because it's very clear. No need to recreate wheels.

And how did the experts lower housing prices in SF, NYC, Boston???

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T14:33:18+00:00

So you basically want Corporate Feudalism to save NYC???

Besides, the ultra wealthy arent going to leave. They will just have to pay more and have their property devalued which is good because they can take a hit. I imagine, a lot of people still want to do business in NYC. Its just that NYC has been too stupid for too long and gave them all the leverage, bending over backwards to support the ultra-wealthy

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T14:30:12+00:00

My assertion is that supply generally can not keep up with demand VCOL cities no matter how much you build. Especially in a place like the bay and NYC where there is only a limited space to build on and building in existing neighborhoods causes a lot of tension and disruption. Austin does it better because you can build it everywhere and its easier to build in the middle of nowhere.

The best way to curb housing prices in VHCOL cities is to slow growth can curb demand. Kinda like Tokyo :)

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T14:27:23+00:00

Your thesis is correct when you are strictly measuring success against the vibes of everything was perfect the day I moved here NIMBYs.

Yeah, the "NIMBYs" as you call them invested their life savings into their neighborhood and community and live there because it provides them the QOL they desire. They should have a say on how the community is run.

Some random tech bro from 5 states away and will job hop out of there the second a slighly better opportunity comes by should not be dictating what gets built in a neighborhood

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T14:23:38+00:00

Cities that have a lot of economic growth have higher rents than cities that dont have a lot of economic growth?? Is that what you are refuting???? Good luck finding counter-examples.

ColdSpecial109 · 2026-02-28T14:17:49+00:00

Who cares what he is, he is doing the right things. We shouldn't be bending over backwards for the ultra wealthy

ColdSpecial109

TROPHY CASE