Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
You're right. A majority of Californians can't afford to buy along the coast. And the boomers who bought way back when have received a huge windfall.
But why is this a problem? Is there some Constitutional right to some of the best RE on the planet? If someone is hellbent on living near the Pacific in CA they can move to Eureka or something, but why would it be public policy to ensure housing affordability in places like Laguna Beach, La Jolla, Montecito and the like? Yeah, they're exclusionary places. So what?
Note that this doesn't mean people are excluded from the beach. The beach is almost always publicly accessible and free (maybe parking fees, but beach access is free). Why is it a crime if a non-wealthy person can only afford 10 miles from the coast?
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I am not talking about exclusive enclaves or beachfront property. Living 10 miles from the beach isn't beachfront, but it is priced like Florida beachfront property.
The main point I am making is that this is created a generation of disgruntled people who may turn to extremes because of their dispossession. Also, radical changes to land use could remedy these issues.
I am not talking about 100 story condo buildings on the beach (but I'm also not not talking about that), but real changes to how our urban areas work:
Allow ADUs, decrease minimum street width, plant trees everywhere, decrease lot mins, eliminate parking requirements, invest in quality public transit (which should come first before the other changes), invest in high-quality biking infrastructure with a connected network (most cities in America fail in this horribly, they might have some nice segment here or there, but its disconnected or ends abruptly), allow duplexes and triplexes where SFH are only allowed today, stop separating uses so strictly, lower speed limits, traffic calming everywhere, speed cameras....and the list goes on.
But we are told to listen to the "community" non-stop. In my planning classes, this is stressedconstantly. Of course, my school is SJW-oriented, so they almost always mean low-income minority community, but nevertheless, the community doesn't know what's best for them in many cases (white or minority), we need to show them the right way forward.