Yes it does. The more homes where people want to live the lower the costs of individual homes will be. You are conflating two different issues in housing affordability and vacant housing. Why don't you buy a vacant and fix it up if that is so cheap? Because it is not cheap and they aren't in places people want to live. People aren't wasting materials building overpriced townhomes. They are using materials building townhomes at prices people will pay. When those people move out their old cheaper homes become available for people who can afford at that level. ALL new housing lowers average home pricing in an area. The only thing this petition protects is increasing home values in the Locust Point Neighborhood. Do you want homes to be more expensive?