[prolikewh0a]

They wouldn't build 1 million apartments, for one, Apartments would likely be built at a slower rate than people moving there. Two, as seen in Seattle, only housing for the already wealthy is built. There is tons of demand for low income housing, but no supply because it doesn't make as much profit (if any) so there's no incentive for capitalists to house low income people and the cycle keeps going.

Before I moved into my current place, I was in low income HUD subsidized housing. It was a brand new building with rent control. Rent control worked great, but the owners didn't keep their side of the promise. Maintenance took months, all amenities we paid for were broken, access to the garage to store our vehicles was broken for 4+ months, elevators were broken for months at a time.

There is no way to get people to freely build affordable housing in or around larger cities under this current system.

[amluto]

I don’t really buy this. If you build enough market-rate housing to satisfy demand, then the price of older, less nice, formerly for-the-wealthy housing stock will become considerably less expensive.

[chrisdhoover]

You can see it in the used car market. Low income folks drive around in very old Lexuses. Smart move.

[amluto]

I used to drive around in an old ‘91 Lexus LS400. It was a fantastic car. I still see that generation of LS400 on the roads :)

[curiouscats]

> There is no way to get people to freely build affordable > housing in or around larger cities under this current system.

This is largely true but needs more qualifiers. There are non-profits that have done this successfully in cooperation with federal and local governments for the long term, for example Arlington Housing Corporation

  https://www.ahcinc.org/

They created a business model that works and are staffed with people that are happy to take the combination of salary and pride in what they accomplish.

Like many business models it is often a challenge to pull off successfully and attempts to make it work without the right combination of people with the right skills, motivation, long term vision, persistence... will fail.