[mind-blight]

Onerous regulations and process are a huge part of the problem. I looked into building a small apartment complex with a local developer in the city. It was zoned well, but the entire surrounding neighborhood had dirt roads. After talking with the city planner we found out that:

1. We'd need to pay 5k get a price estimate for all of the permits we would need, and

2. That we would need to either pave a road along the property (which would immediately fall apart from erosion since it would be the only paved road for multiple blocks), or pay $400k for the right to not pave the road

At that point, we stopped even trying. There's no way to build affordable housing in a timeline manner in that city.