• spector@lemmy.ca
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    8 hours ago

    Their premise is that the free market drove up the price of houses. Deregulation that is to say end of social housing programs led to this. Is that not neo-liberal? High construction costs come mainly from high cost of labor. The market driving up costs isn’t free market? What protectionist policies are there? When have property values been under threat of dropping. They’ve been ever increasing due to market demand. You say “lack of good investment”. Others say investors determined housing was a prime investment. Ditto for your last point.

    a bunch of 5-over-1 in mixed zoning

    What does this even mean?

    • Smk@lemmy.ca
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      6 hours ago

      I think zoning laws, parking requirement and crazy urbanism rules are a form of protectionism that drive home prices up.

      It’s crazy that the land you buy is so restricted that the only thing you can do is… nothing asides from trying to win the lawn contest with your neighbors.

      In my opinion, those are the factors that led to this catastrophe. Houses are literally frozen. You cannot start a business, you cannot build another house on your land, nothing.

      The government can build more affordable housing, sure, but ultimately, we need to let the city build itself without overly restrictive zoning and urbanism by-laws.