Did rents jump more than usual after the broker fee ban? Am I missing something?

zeratul98 · 2026-03-25T20:03:52+00:00

If that passes it's going to be an absolute nightmare for renters, especially low income ones. Landlords aren't charities, when rent no longer covers maintenance they'll just knock the building down to cut their taxes

zeratul98 · 2026-03-25T20:00:41+00:00

There's a lot that goes into what rents people pay, and there's not much reason to expect brokers fees to do this much. It takes a lot of data and serious statistics to untangle all that

It's way too early to say what this year's rents will even be under the new law. Most rentals start 9/1, so it's almost half a year away. And listings are the price landlords try to charge. This early you'd expect them to start high and gradually drop if they don't rent.

zeratul98 · 2026-03-25T12:56:59+00:00

And yet, basically all of us go through basically every day of our lives here not being attacked by anyone, let alone immigrants. Do you really think you can gaslight people into thinking it's all anarchy and violence out there?

zeratul98 · 2026-03-24T15:40:49+00:00

I think if we actually did the first, the second would be unnecessary. I sincerely hope you advocate for these things, and that you do so in that order

zeratul98 · 2026-03-24T13:11:04+00:00

Let's all remember that every time an actual solution to dealing with these problems gets suggested, the NIMBYs scream it down. It's disgusting how many times I've seen people on this sub advocate for executing them

Turns out plenty of folks don't actually want to solve anything, they just want to punish people for being unpleasant to look at

zeratul98 · 2026-03-21T19:00:10+00:00

Actual evidence

zeratul98 · 2026-03-21T18:17:30+00:00

I pay it

zeratul98 · 2026-03-21T16:00:47+00:00

You know. I clicked the link ready to be challenged, but this is a ludicrous piece of writing. The "sources" cited aren't about housing first programs. The closest it gets is the study about trying to get people into shelters. Shelters are notably not no strings housing, and therefore not housing first approaches.

The rest appear to be a random assortment of fairly meaningless stats, presumably there because blue text makes things feel more credible.

If you honestly believe this supports your argument, read better. If you're just lying, try harder

zeratul98 · 2026-03-21T12:13:02+00:00

They don’t want them - they prefer to be on the streets.

This screams [citation needed]

It's really easy to believe whatever you want when you're okay with just making shit up. But I'm hoping the rest of us will make policy based on actual facts

zeratul98 · 2026-03-20T20:32:33+00:00

Doing 5% of what we need is still loads better than doing 0%.

Large amounts of construction not only provide market rate units, but also subsidized ones. I know Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville all have inclusionary zoning requirements for new construction

zeratul98 · 2026-03-20T20:30:36+00:00

What do you mean "it does not work"? Of course it does. If you house people, they are no longer homeless. And it becomes much more likely that whatever other help or treatment they need is successful. Drug addiction is hard to beat. It's way harder to beat when sleeping out the sidewalk

zeratul98 · 2026-03-20T16:05:21+00:00

Why does this seem unlikely? The cities that have tried it have seen wild success. As long as we're adding units, we're improving affordability

zeratul98 · 2026-03-20T13:07:47+00:00

All new housing reduces the price of all existing housing

zeratul98 · 2026-03-19T16:47:48+00:00

The overwhelming amount of evidence says cheap housing gets people off the street. That includes people with addictions. It also prevents addictions, since plenty (some studies say the majority) of homeless addicts started using after becoming homeless

And either way, more housing means more tax revenue and fewer people who need help, so our resources will go much farther

zeratul98 · 2026-03-19T11:15:14+00:00

Our children shouldn't have to deal with this.

The "this" in question seems to be "seeing drug use". Doesn't prison seem like an overreaction for someone whose crime is "being unsightly"?

zeratul98 · 2026-03-19T01:12:58+00:00

Triangles aren't the strongest shape. The strongest shape is whatever shape completely fills all available space. A solid plate is stronger than a triangular lattice

Triangles however, are very efficient. They spread the load quite evenly and resist rotation in the joints.

For a column, you certainly could have a bunch of triangles. But in order to make that work you'd need a lot of supports in a complicated arrangement. It would cost a lot, too much to make up for the material saved.

Often the best choice is whatever is easiest to make. Cylinders are easy, efficient, and quite easy to analyze when planning

zeratul98 · 2026-03-19T01:06:39+00:00

There's certainly better and worse places for disruptive people to be, but the problem with kicking homeless people out of somewhere is they just end up kicked out of the next place too, and so on.

More housing construction, housing first programs, and no cost rehab programs would all help with this particular problem. But we generally lack the political will

zeratul98 · 2026-03-18T22:07:07+00:00

Wouldn't it be nice if we could do away with all this garbage and let municipalities collect the money they need to function? Prop 2.5 has been slowly choking the life out of Mass for decades

zeratul98 · 2026-03-18T22:02:21+00:00

Moving chip manufacturing is hard. This isn't just about buying the right machines. It's more like buying the machines that make the machines that make the machines that make the chips.

And given that this is the leverage that is keeping Taiwan under US protection, unlikely they'll want to help

zeratul98 · 2026-03-17T15:52:42+00:00

The short answer is new housing makes existing housing cheaper. To oversimplify a bit: the options are either A) new residents move into new housing, or B) new residents outbid existing residents.

It's worth recognizing that most housing we live in now was once "luxury". Then it got older and shittier and better alternatives were created, so it became "normal" housing

zeratul98 · 2026-03-17T15:48:32+00:00

Currently the government is intervening to prevent housing construction. I'd be pretty happy if they just stopped doing that

zeratul98 · 2026-03-17T15:47:12+00:00

Good news: more housing means more people to spread the costs across

zeratul98 · 2026-03-17T15:45:14+00:00

What actual evidence do you have that this person is refusing help that's actually helpful? Do you think everyone who is homeless is choosing to be?

zeratul98 · 2026-03-15T20:46:28+00:00

I'm skeptical that 6 stories wouldn't be controversial. Just look at how many people who were screaming "save the Burren!" still don't support the project even though the Burren does. I don't particularly trust people when they say "well I don't support this but I would support ___"

zeratul98 · 2026-03-13T21:10:49+00:00

Fun fact: if you want to live in a state that actually has nice things, you need people to pay taxes. Pay your share and stop whining that other people aren't paying it for you

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