Comment by davidw
2 days ago
I wish everyone who cares about the price of housing could go to a hearing like this one. Sadly, they happen in every community so if you're curious, you ought to go:
https://bendyimby.com/2024/04/16/the-hearing-and-the-housing...
That is your housing shortage right there.
Now, Real page probably jacks up prices a bit. A bit multiplied by a lot of renters means real harm and it was probably worth taking them to court over.
However, at the end of the day, RealPage is simply not enough to get Los Angeles rents out of Houston property. Supply and demand are still where it's at.
You're claiming that your idea of 'X' is true, and for evidence of this, you're linking to a site that was created by people whose mission is to advocate for the idea of X.
Am I likely to be getting an impartial view of the situation from a source which solely exists to push X-related messaging?
Is such a group/site really going to give a fair shake to other theories Y and Z, or to conflicting data?
I care about fixing the housing shortage in the city I live in. I spend hundreds of hours as a volunteer, see a lot and read a lot. I'm pointing out what I see on the ground doing the work. And what I see is NIMBYs, not institutional investors or RealPage or 'foreigners' or whatever else the bogeyman du jour is.
If I were convinced the problem lay elsewhere, I would focus on that, because I don't have anything invested in the problem being a specific thing.
If you start digging into this issue you'll find every example you want. If you only challenge people you disagree with, you will remain wrong.
"You're claiming X is true, and providing me with a source you believe has good arguments for X being true. Very suspicious."
Why do people think they have a right to live wherever they want? The people Bend are happy with Bend as it is. If you can't afford to live there, move.
Why do people that happen to live somewhere believe they have a right to prevent others from living there? If you don't like who's moving to Bend, move somewhere else.
"Why do people think they have a right to control what other people build on private land? If you don't like what's getting built, move."
Why is the govt's job to control where people live? I thought individual freedom was a big part of the whole deal?