> Renters, on the other hand, have an asymmetrically difficult battle: pro-development individuals need to show up to all the proposed-development meetings, not just one for a particular street or block, if they want to expand housing.
It's not homeowners vs renters, it's homeowners vs property developers. Property developers who, I can assure you, are perfectly capable of sticking up for themselves.
> Homeowners are probably much more strongly driven to show up because the focus is on what they lose. Character of neighborhood, traffic, safety, noise, etc. and the threat against the status quo seems more likely to trigger that visceral defense mechanism.
Are these.. bad reasons to be opposed to development?
> Homeowners are well-defined and known individuals. They already exist, and their turf is already developed. Renters, on the other hand, are an abstract group of people who may or may not even move in, should something be built.
This is all the more reason to listen to homeowners vs renters.
> There's strong stigma against renters, to the point of being demeaning and tribal. A local council near me voiced their opposition to building more affordable developments, and the chairman said he was concerned about "derelicts" (exact word) moving in to the neighborhood and said if they built more affordable units, you'd see a rise in street drug vendors, threatening the local children.
Sleight of hand there. Renting != affordable housing. To be blunt, although maybe not as much as that councilman: poor people commit more street and petty crime. This is inarguable. Most people commit crimes near where they live. Also inarguable. He's not wrong.
> It's not homeowners vs renters, it's homeowners vs property developers. Property developers who, I can assure you, are perfectly capable of sticking up for themselves.
I'd argue that current zoning laws and processes encourage large developers. They are the only ones who can navigate the system.
That's why so much new construction in the last several decades (at least) has been by large developers who buy cheap land on the outskirts of town, cut down all the trees, build a bunch of identical cheaply made houses isolated from everything else, sell them all at once, and hand over management to a homeowners association where rules are enforced to ensure conformity.
It's not homeowners vs renters, it's homeowners vs property developers. Property developers who, I can assure you, are perfectly capable of sticking up for themselves.
> Homeowners are probably much more strongly driven to show up because the focus is on what they lose. Character of neighborhood, traffic, safety, noise, etc. and the threat against the status quo seems more likely to trigger that visceral defense mechanism.
Are these.. bad reasons to be opposed to development?
> Homeowners are well-defined and known individuals. They already exist, and their turf is already developed. Renters, on the other hand, are an abstract group of people who may or may not even move in, should something be built.
This is all the more reason to listen to homeowners vs renters.
> There's strong stigma against renters, to the point of being demeaning and tribal. A local council near me voiced their opposition to building more affordable developments, and the chairman said he was concerned about "derelicts" (exact word) moving in to the neighborhood and said if they built more affordable units, you'd see a rise in street drug vendors, threatening the local children.
Sleight of hand there. Renting != affordable housing. To be blunt, although maybe not as much as that councilman: poor people commit more street and petty crime. This is inarguable. Most people commit crimes near where they live. Also inarguable. He's not wrong.