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Brambleshire t1_j1zlk7n wrote

Reply to comment by mdervin in Opinion: New York finally has momentum on housing and it’s time for a breakthrough by King-of-New-York

Why are you talking like we just have to accept the pure free market and developers whims like it's an act of God? Real estate is WILDLY profitable in nyc. Don't hit me with that crying poor shit. Theres more wealth in this city than anyone can comprehend. Not building affordable is a choice not something unfortunate that just can't be helped.

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Hoser117 t1_j1zrhkt wrote

If it's wildly profitable to build affordable I'm pretty sure people would be doing it and profiting from it.

I'm not a real estate developer apologist or anything, but in general I trust their ability to make a shit load of money and if they're saying the best way to make money is to build luxury then I believe them.

Greedy people will make money however they can. If it was extremely profitable to build affordable housing they would be doing it. It's on the city to change the environment the developers are operating in so that it is profitable to build affordable housing.

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Brambleshire t1_j1zwryx wrote

You missed or ignored my point. My point is that it's less profitable and that's why only luxury gets built. We have to step in, and use those things called regulation, laws, grass roots organizing, to require affordable housing that's only less profitable. Capitalism peak profitability leads us to all kinds of suboptimal outcomes. Steering it into something more optimal for public good is nothing new or radical.

>I'm not a real estate developer apologist or anything, but in general I trust their ability to make a shit load of money and if they're saying the best way to make money is to build luxury then I believe them.

oh ok, so your a developer simp then.

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Hoser117 t1_j202d55 wrote

Well we're largely saying similar things then. What I imagine makes this difficult is that we're obviously not operating in a bubble. We're essentially competing with the rest of the state/country where these developers can operate to make money. If developing in NYC goes from "very profitable" to "sort of profitable" then we'll just see less development in general.

It seems like there's a balancing act to play here where it's not enough to just disincentivize luxury only developments but actively improve the profit margins for market-rate & below market-rate development. Whenever I read about the state of things here it usually sounds like what has happened is the city has either intentionally or not put developers in a position where luxury developments are really the only appealing thing to build.

I would think there's a risk that if we also make those less profitable then they're not just gonna do market-rate and below market-rate developments, they'll just slow down development all together.

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Brambleshire t1_j210mwh wrote

If you think developers won't build in one of the most lucrative markets in the world if it's slightly less profitable then your just either delusional or a developers shill. Ppl like you talk about the free market like it's an act of God that we can't do anything about. it's amazing.

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