Proof-Variation7005 t1_iza5cgx wrote on December 7, 2022 at 4:40 PM

Reply to comment by Narples82 in New design for Fane Tower keeps height the same by Rogue-Island-Pirate

We need housing at all price points. There's already a market demand for this right now even if people weren't still constantly moving here. That isn't going to stop anytime soon.

This problem is decades in the making and any housing solution that isn't starting with "build a metric fuck-ton more of it as fast as you possibly can" is not a solution. Just the thousand or so apartments from this, the superman building and the other South Water development are barely going to make a dent in the problem, but they will definitely help.

Even in a scenario where we aren't way behind demand and didn't need thousands of new units and they somehow aren't going to almost immediately fill this tower with renters (unlikely), if there's too much of a good flooding the market and demand has dropped, the price of that good will fall. The basic law of supply and demand is still in play.

Narples82 t1_iza7a5z wrote on December 7, 2022 at 4:53 PM

Didn't the Dev for the superman building project think affordable housing meant a $2500 studio when asked on camera? I think you and I are the same page here but if the barrier to entry for these buildings is out of reach for most and it influences rental rates of existing buildings causing 50% or more of its occupants income to go towards housing rather than other economy-stimulating things we aren't really getting ahead.

I feel like the city wants to have nice things but cant produce an economy with a job market to sustain it. Rather they are counting on a "If you build it they will come" mentality to allure "better" citizens. To that I say "but we are here, we have seen it already and if history repeats itself we still cannot afford it."

Proof-Variation7005 t1_iza9czn wrote on December 7, 2022 at 5:07 PM

I'm not sure what interviews were done, but I know what they already announced the price points for the Superman building. The specific numbers are escaping me, but they were fine. The only real grip with that is that it's not enough of those units, since it's only like 50-60 apartments out of 300 and most of those are on the upper-tied of what qualifies for "affordable".

As for the job market? It's still plenty strong enough and I think remote work changed the game enough where you don't necessarily need to be adding more of the white collar office jobs in Providence. People are being priced out of NYC and Boston at a much higher rate. That ain't stopping and remote work isn't going away.