[jjav]

You joke but sometimes that is the most practical answer.

In my 20s I lived near Manhattan and my goal was to move into Manhattan. But.. it never happened. Way too expensive. I beat my head against that wall for a couple years but it became clear it was impossible.

So I moved to a (back-then) much cheaper area of California and bought a house.

[zjp]

But should incentivizing your behavior be a _policy goal_. I think not. Cities are mainly engines of wealth creation with concentrated opportunity. We should expand the supply of apartments in city centers so that they can remain so. They should not be nearly as expensive as country club suburbs. Our grandparents' grandparents understood this and made room for their children and their grandkids. We weren't so lucky with our grandparents. We can choose differently for ourselves and our children.

[jjav]

> But should incentivizing your behavior be a _policy goal_.

No. But pragmatically just like in finance "the markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent", housing policy can also remain against you for decades or way more. As an individual, sometimes it's better to move and have a nice house and lead a good life than to spend a lifetime fighting policy.