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Derelict's avatar

Sadly, one of the things that cities are very efficient at creating is resentment in rural areas. There's a reason why "the heartland" views cities as crime-ravaged hellscapes, and it's got nothing to do with anything approaching reality. It's the mythology that rural residents have to create and perpetuate in order to dissuade their kids from heading to the big city.

Nowadays, of course, housing costs keep 'em down on the farm more than hair-'em scare-'em stories of feces-filled streets and marauding crime gangs. But the resentment remains, and is now coupled with despair.

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Chenda's avatar

Is NIMBYism the real problem, or is it developers who want to restrict the housing supply to drive up prices? Well established developers arguably benefit from red tape and land use restrictions to inflate land values and create barriers to entry to competitors. A sort of OPEC-esq developer cartel. I don't know how true this is but I suspect making housing more affordable will involve the government itself building a lot of social housing. In Singapore, for example, about 80% of people live in government owned flats. London is now starting to build council housing again at levels not seen since the 1970s - a long overdue development.

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