[JumpCrisscross]

West Virginia didn’t outlaw new housing like Portland did. American cities largely rejected supply and demand over the last decades, as land-owning interests found alliance, variously, with renting incumbents and the economically naive.

Charleston didn’t make better policy than Salem; it simply didn’t pass the bad ones.

[breakyerself]

I agree, but also think it's important to remember that the federal government didn't used to just leave it up to the private sector. The government used to be a major source of homebuilding. Had the federal government not abandoned the project of building public housing supply would be higher. They're much better equipped for overcoming local zoning limitations than a land developer.

[kjkjadksj]

Federal response used to also be much more in line with this being a housing crisis. They built a quonset hut village that held a couple thousand people in LA after WWII before postwar homebuilding caught up more. That could be done with a pen stroke again today and thousands could be housed tomorrow, but you can imagine the political footballing that would be involved with something like this.

[demondemidi]

Portland recently passed legislation to allow infill of 2- and 4-plexes. There is new construction (corporate and residential) going up everywhere. Your agenda is showing.

[kjkjadksj]

Single family zoning is still a thing in west virginia, its just you have a lack of jobs so there aren’t a ton of people moving there.