On: Urban renewal left the U.S. too scared to build

[robertlagrant]

> Perhaps my view is too California-centric, but IMHO the biggest parasites are the rent seekers of homeowners and landlords.

How are home owners "rent seekers"?

[epistasis → robertlagrant]

Home owners block new housing to drive up their home valuations, treating housing as an investment and pricing out an entire generation.

[robertlagrant → epistasis]

I think you're mistaking a small subset for the general set of home owners.

The root cause of what you're talking about is demand is exceeding supply, by quite a long way. The population is growing - through various means - faster than homes are being created. That means a few home owners will do what you describe.

[KingMachiavelli → robertlagrant]

Prop 13 means local municipalities need to extract higher fees and taxes on new construction compared to existing property. Higher development costs/prices cause dead weight loss and therefore block/reduce new development.