Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Need Zoning Law Expertise

[Philip Dowds (rphilipdowds]

I think we’re drifting off into a different set of topics.  I would agree that 
American zoning was invented at a time when urbanization and the “free market” 
were increasingly producing conditions that the (voting) public did not like.  
And rock-solid, pro-active public support of sanitary and functional living 
conditions for everyone has never been consistently part of the zoning program 
or local public policy.  Whether capsules, trailers and tents should be 
incorporated into our local or national housing strategy might be debated 
further.

But not here.

Thanks,
Philip Dowds
Cornerstone Village Cohousing
Cambridge, MA

mobile: 617.460.4549
email:   rpdowds [at] comcast.net

> On Mar 31, 2019, at 4:27 AM, Brian Bartholomew via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l 
> [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
> 
>> Our City Council and body politic kvetches a lot about the "housing
>> problem", but does not always see itself as having many levers to pull.
> 
> I see, the zoning laws capping density, height, and requiring minimum
> size and features were enacted by space aliens in silver spaceships,
> not the city council elected by the voters.  Japan has capsule hotels,
> but your municipality wouldn't let you build them, would they?
> 
>       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsule_hotel
> 
>> Meanwhile, I remain pretty pessimistic about solving the "housing
>> problem" by seeking out work-arounds for building housing "cheap".
> 
> Katrina cottages and capsule hotels are cheap, but they've been banned
> because everybody knows they would lower housing prices.  The
> voters who have houses want protectionism to keep their prices up.
> 
>> What's often described as the "housing problem: is really the
>> "income inequality problem"
> 
> Repeal the "minimum wage" for houses which bans the low-cost end, and
> then we'll see what problems remain.  Cost of living is going up by an
> average of 10%/year, as measured by totaling typical purchases each
> month: http://www.chapwoodindex.com  What percentage of retired boomers
> on shrinking social security incomes will be pushed to live in their
> cars, before they vote to repeal bans on lower-cost housing?
> 
> Brian
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