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objectimpermanence t1_je0sgmu wrote

Well gee, I wonder why housing is significantly more affordable relative to local incomes in places like Houston and other Sunbelt cities, where large corporate landlords are basically allowed to build whatever they want with relatively minimal interference.

It’s almost as if there is some other economic factor at play here. Certainly Texas landlords aren’t less greedy than landlords are here.

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LoneStarTallBoi t1_je13w9i wrote

Lmao Houston rents have been skyrocketing for more than a decade.

My college apartment that I paid $200 a month for in 2006 is listed now for l 2k a month and it still looks like the windows don't close all the way. You can find cheap rent in Katy or Clear Lake but that's like saying you can find cheap rent in Allentown.

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JeromePowellAdmirer t1_je1b6zi wrote

Say again with a straight face that Houston rents are as bad as NYC? That's the most hilarious thing I've read all day. Please do tell me where I can buy a 300k house in this area and find a rental for 1100 a month.

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LoneStarTallBoi t1_je1drlx wrote

Are you lost? Are you illiterate? We're not talking about NYC, we're talking about new jersey, and where did I say that rents in Houston were as bad as nyc?

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JeromePowellAdmirer t1_je1i4pl wrote

  1. Northern NJ and NYC are in the same housing market. People living in NYC move here all the time (not to mention other states). It's because NYC doesn't build nearly enough for their population.

  2. You disagreed with the statement that "housing is significantly more affordable relative to local incomes in places like Houston" and implied you have to go to Katy to find rent below 2k, which is just completely false and easily disproven with a quick trip to Zillow. Literally yesterday I considered moving to Houston for much cheaper housing prices.

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LoneStarTallBoi t1_je1s2t4 wrote

You can find plenty of places in the heights for less than 2k, too.

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JeromePowellAdmirer t1_je1wxqf wrote

The median 1 bed in the heights on Hotpads is 1850, cheapest is 1500.

In Houston the median is 1350 and you can easily find listings for 900-1100 in a walkable area like Montrose. Need to pay 1.5x the price to live in the Heights

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LoneStarTallBoi t1_je1z152 wrote

Which is about the relation between the respective area median income

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objectimpermanence t1_je1dwpj wrote

Your $200/month (wtf?) apartment was definitely more of an exception than a rule. Marketwide, rents there haven’t gone up anywhere close to 10x since 2006.

Prices have been going up in Houston, but not nearly as much as they have been in the NYC metro area.

A solidly middle class family earning <$100k in Houston can still afford to own or rent a decent home in a decent neighborhood. Good luck doing that in most other coastal cities where NIMBYs rule the roost.

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LoneStarTallBoi t1_je1fkzg wrote

That's because Harris County is four times the size of NYC. You can find a decently affordable home out in Paterson, too.

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objectimpermanence t1_je1o8nc wrote

Paterson is not affordable relative to local incomes. Median household income in Paterson is only $48k, which is less than it is in Houston.

Open up Zillow and you will find very few habitable homes on the market in Paterson for under $300k.

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LoneStarTallBoi t1_je1rp2j wrote

And south park and Lawndale are also not affordable, relative to local household incomes. You can make a statistic do whatever you want.

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Ilanaspax t1_je0tenb wrote

We should find out if their Mayor also did an entire ad campaign begging developers to build and see how much we have in common!

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objectimpermanence t1_je0xfzi wrote

Lol.

No developer is making a decision to a build a multi-million dollar building based on a cheesy ad campaign.

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JeromePowellAdmirer t1_je1beze wrote

What's insane about that commenter is they keep insisting Fulop is handing out tax breaks when in reality he eliminated that practice. Just absolutely devoid of any touch with reality.

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Ilanaspax t1_je1odxu wrote

sound out the words slowly and you might get to the part where I said “by the city at the time”

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Ilanaspax t1_je0zgn7 wrote

ah so we agree that the tax abatements being handed out like candy by the city at the time were completely unnecessary?

If only Fulop had known ahead of time that trying to make JC enticing to transplants was going to create an alleged housing shortage that could only be solved by building more luxury rentals with insane rent increases every year.

I’m sure he had no idea 🥹…but I’m sure he’s pleased with his multiple home renovations by Dixon.

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paul-e-walnts t1_je1r171 wrote

What’s insane to me is that people expect the city on the other side of the Hudson from Manhattan to somehow not attract people to live here.

What is the alternative to accommodating demand for housing, Keep JC as shitty as possible to make it unappealing for everyone?

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JeromePowellAdmirer t1_je1zpp3 wrote

That is an actual "solution" people always bring up. "Fire your gun, that'll sure keep them away!"

These people have clearly never heard the countless stories of people making 100k+ in Brooklyn who are all like "yeah when I moved out here I heard gunshots all the time." If they can't afford the housing closer to their job they'll come here whether we like it or not, can either build new housing for them or let them take over existing housing.

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Ilanaspax t1_je2dpr1 wrote

It is insane they needed to make an ad campaign when NYC is right there. Kind of makes you wonder why they did it doesn’t it?

So crazy how our only solution to the housing crisis is making it so only rich transplants can afford to live here and existing residents relocate and enjoy none of the “improvements”.

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paul-e-walnts t1_je2jgt4 wrote

You think an ad campaign got people to move here? Can you show me this ad campaign?

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Ilanaspax t1_jef4p61 wrote

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/06/business/media/a-new-effort-from-a-new-jersey-city-urges-make-it-yours.html

The sole reason? No. Do I believe they deliberately courted high income folks to price out working class residents?Absolutely and it was extremely transparent at the time.

City spent 1.2 million on the ad campaign in 2014 after giving out tax abatements for luxury high rises. It’s SO weird how 10 years later there isn’t enough affordable housing and the only solution is more luxury rentals 🤔

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