[javagram]

“supply” is controlled by government regulations. When laws state that the only housing supply can consist of single family houses, then the number of homes will be limited to the number of legal building plots.

Historically, zoning laws were established to prevent cheaper forms of housing from being built in order to keep poor people out from a region. The existence of these laws is precisely because the lawmakers recognized that more dense forms of housing would be built and lived in by poorer residents unless it was made illegal.

[kulahan]

This is absolutely a baby slice of the reason. Supply is controlled by a huge number of factors, a large fraction of which are tied to the 2000s housing bubble crashing. It created a large period of time where houses weren't built even as the population grew. This caused a large number of pine tree farms to slow down or shut down, which is why Christmas trees are randomly like $80 each lately. Combine this with large investor demand for the demand-side of housing, and it's clear to see that government regulations play an exceedingly small role in this.

It's hard to describe how little I care about why something was originally created, rather than how it plays out today.

It's also hard to describe how discouraging it is that social progressiveness is the only factor of any issue I see anyone have any knowledge on.

[more_corn]

Supply is 100% constrained by regulation. SF (and every other city) requires a permit to build. Go try to get a permit to build something in sf. I guarantee you’ll find a hundred different blockers including if any of your neighbors would like to object. (They will)

[kulahan]

Wrong, sorry. The construction costs have exploded in recent years for a number of reasons, not least of which is a constraint on construction supplies. This problem actually exists in more places than SF, and it will have varying levels of contributing factors depending on where you are, but as much as the internet loves to cry NIMBY, it’s simply not the primary factor here.

You may need a permit to build, but it’s not nearly as impossible as Reddit would have you think.

[oblio]

Awesome, I want to build a 6 story apartment building in 20 random locations in 20 random cities.

What are my odds of hitting at least 10 places where I'd get a permit?

[baggy_trough]

If you think regulation is the only constraint on supply, you're wrong.

[com2kid]

Let's get rid of the regulations then so:

A. There is no more debate about it

B. Suppliers are motivated to catch up to where the supply chain needs to be at.