[fleddr]

I agree. Here in the Netherlands, NIMBYism isn't really a thing. If you don't own the land, you as existing resident have very little say in new developments around you, exceptions aside.

Even in this situation where almost every development is approved, it doesn't lower prices at all. The reality is that when demand is continuously high, you can never keep up with supply. It just keeps coming.

Which is what happened to my town. A small, quiet, rural town. That was 20 years ago. Now it's packed. Every inch used. Traffic jams just to get to the center. Agricultural and nature areas transformed into concrete.

Quality of life is down whilst prices just keep rising regardless. Do these people have a right to live here? YES. Do I have a right to forever preserve my old town? NO. I'm just saying NIMBYism isn't some roadblock standing in the way of an actual solution.

[ultraluminous]

Yup. Essentially, housing is an in-elastic demand, and livable land is a finite resource, further exacerbated by the realities of emigration. Combined with extreme wealth inequality, it brings us to this type of dystopia - https://ssir.org/articles/entry/tackling_the_housing_crisis_...

[fleddr]

I agree that livable land is finite, but far from scarce. The US has an enormous supply of livable land, it's just that everybody clusters into hot zones. It's obviously not easy to break that pattern, but I consider it the only real solution.

[maxerickson]

Yeah, the US is at a point where there is a lot of built environment that is underutilized because job opportunities are concentrated in other places, never mind the large amount of land that can readily be developed.