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caroline_elly t1_je2v295 wrote

Reply to comment by WideRight43 in Rents high. What is your alternative to increasing housing supply? by paul-e-walnts

This, but better public transportation in general. Most people prefer to live within 1h from their workplace.

If you improve transportation, many more areas are within 1h of Manhattan. This effectively increases the supply of viable housing for millions of commuters.

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objectimpermanence t1_je30vzl wrote

Better transit doesn’t matter if the zoning doesn’t change.

Many NJ suburbs still have huge minimum lot sizes, setback requirements, and other limitations on density that that make it so that the only things that get built are McMansions and expensive townhouses.

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caroline_elly t1_je320h4 wrote

Not sure how that makes better transit not helpful? Obviously if you have both it will be ideal but there are many reasonably dense places with bad commute times.

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objectimpermanence t1_je36mpv wrote

What I’m trying to say is that the investment isn’t worth it if towns adjacent to transit don’t increase density further.

Westfield is relatively dense as far as suburbs go. But what’s the point of spending money to improve transit there if they don’t allow a meaningful amount of new housing to be built? Otherwise, the investment only benefits a limited number of people.

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