Social War Room Lounge Thread #325: PotWR Edition

[Rob Battisti]

I always felt like the lounge was a mayberry just for WR users lol

It should be.

I’m not going to engage in the fantasy housing conversation. I offered to do a one off “debate” to settle it, but it was turned down. SAD!

 

[AnGrYcRoW]

I always felt like the lounge was a mayberry just for WR users lol

Sort of , when I said that's what the lounge is for it's in a Swiss Army knife sort of way , it's in the war room rules to bring a discussion here rather than derail a thread

 

[Halifax]

It should be.

I’m not going to engage in the fantasy housing conversation. I offered to do a one off “debate” to settle it, but it was turned down. SAD!

Was reading it for a bit.

Too different from Canada. Or even just Halifax to really compare

Corporations and wealthy folks buying up housing to turn them into rentals here has been a problem and rent goes up with it, not down. Slowing the influx of people moving here is mandatory. Particularly international students, which do not count towards any max numbers of refugees/migrant counts. Currently they just wink wink allow folks to break fire code and live 8 people in a 2 bedroom because they are willing to live like that and pay $2900 a month for a 2 bedroom.

At the same time, contractors here get deals and red tape removed if they put 10% affordable units in every major multi-dwelling project.

Folks here ARE constantly renovating in rental units in their own homes for passive income. But many landlords do get together with "bad tenant" lists, which is technically not allowed, but ive seen the facebook groups.

Nimby's are definitely a thing, but the biggest nimby's trying to block development here try to masquerade as green environmentalists and say building near them will devastate the ecosystem lol.

I could jump in but my views are restricted to what I see in Canadian cities. Particularly the landlocked maritime provinces

 

[Islam Imamate]

Austin passed the laws and has been in legal delays since doing so. He keeps saying that it’s lowered prices but the fact of the matter is that ADUs in Austin are either 300-400k luxury units that millionaires are popping on to their second homes, 300-400 sqft tiny homes that are being rented or RVs parked in backyards.

This is his utopia.

It’s been a mess to the point they haven’t even released their yearly report.

It's been such a mess that they've seen the lowest rent growth in the country.

While much of the country is being crushed by a housing affordability crisis, living in Austin, Texas, is becoming cheaper as rent prices in the city are dropping faster than anywhere else in the nation

The flooding of new apartment inventory in the Texas capital continues to bring rent prices down in the city, making renting in Austin a much-more affordable option than homeownership, especially considering that mortgage rates are still hovering around the 7 percent mark. As of May 8, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.76 percent, according to Freddie Mac.

The explosion in new construction projects was also allowed by the fact that the Austin city government has made building new apartments easier in recent years, rewriting zoning laws, cutting parking requirements, and encouraging dense, walkable development.

https://www.newsweek.com/austin-rent-prices-collapsing-2071395

Now, Austin is one of the only major U.S. cities where rents are falling.

Austin rents have tumbled for 19 straight months, data from Zillow show. The typical asking rent in the capital city sat at $1,645 as of December, according to Zillow — above where rents stood prior to the pandemic but below where they peaked amid the region’s red-hot growth.

The chief reason behind Austin’s falling rents, real estate experts and housing advocates said, is a massive apartment building boom unmatched by any other major city in Texas or in the rest of the country. Apartment builders in the Austin area kicked into overdrive during the pandemic, resulting in tens of thousands of new apartments hitting the market.

That boom resulted in part because of a shifting political culture around new housing, Austin City Council Member José “Chito” Vela said.

As in many other major cities, existing homeowners and neighborhood groups that opposed allowing more homes to be built for decades held significant sway at Austin City Hall. But those forces lost favor amid the city’s skyrocketing housing costs during the pandemic. Austin voters elected City Council members — including Vela — more friendly to housing development.

Amid increased competition, landlords fight to attract new tenants and keep the ones they have. That means keeping rents flat or cutting rents to convince existing tenants to renew their lease. For new tenants, it means landlords may offer several months’ worth of free rent in order to convince them to move in.

“When you introduce that many new apartments, your rental rates drop due to competition,” said Cindi Reed, the firm’s director. “Supply and demand.”

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/22/austin-texas-rents-falling/

I’m all for building new homes with reduced lots and relaxed zoning. What Austin is doing is benefiting the haves with supplemental income and allowing people who want to live in under 1000 sqft rentals more expensive options than apartments.

Yes and? What is wrong with that?

 

[Islam Imamate]

It should be.

I’m not going to engage in the fantasy housing conversation. I offered to do a one off “debate” to settle it, but it was turned down. SAD!

You're free to make a thread on the topic. I made a thread on the topic of deregulation of prefab housing and most who voted in the poll agreed with me which included right wing posters

 

[Rob Battisti]

You're free to make a thread on the topic. I made a thread on the topic of deregulation of prefab housing and most who voted in the poll agreed with me which included right wing posters

SAD!

 

[Islam Imamate]

I always felt like the lounge was a mayberry just for WR users lol

It's for off topic discussions of all kinds, political and otherwise.

It should be.

I’m not going to engage in the fantasy housing conversation. I offered to do a one off “debate” to settle it, but it was turned down. SAD!

Supply and demand is fantasy, good to know.

 

[Islam Imamate]

I always keep it civil with him he's a good poster even if i don't share his views. I'm against letting the unwashed permeate established neighborhoods via government interventions but from what I've seen he's more focusing on reformatting zone laws in New subdivision builds and allowing homeowners to build rentals on their own land.

That's exactly right, notice that I never talk about "low income" or "affordable" housing and that's because I'm against subsidized housing as it creates bad incentives. I'm advocating for market rate housing much of which won't be "affordable" by progressive standards because even if you allow multifamily dwellings in high demand areas all the pent up demand built up over years of underbuilding means many new units won't be that cheap even if rents overall go down.

If anything in many cases it might lead to something like gentrification where rents go down due to overall supply increase but because of all the added housing the value of land in the area increases driving up home prices. Whats funny is that NIMBYs complain about that too as they don't want to pay higher property taxes. In the end they don't want lower home values, they don't want higher home values, they want NIMBY home values.

To call free market reforms "communism" just shows how illiterate some right wing populists are

 

[Mr Holmes]

You're free to make a thread on the topic. I made a thread on the topic of deregulation of prefab housing and most who voted in the poll agreed with me which included right wing posters

Technically he can't.

 

[LangfordBarrow]

Great movie.

Have you ever stepped on a dead bee?

 

[Cajun]

I always felt like the lounge was a mayberry just for WR users lol

It kind of is. To me its a way for war room opposites bond over some beers. Just general chat.

 

[Cajun]

Have you ever stepped on a dead bee?

Didn't remember that line but awesome! I enjoyed most of Bogarts major stuff. The fact that they fell in love there and she stayed with him to the day he died is a classic irl love story.

 

[Cajun]

It should be.

I’m not going to engage in the fantasy housing conversation. I offered to do a one off “debate” to settle it, but it was turned down. SAD!

What was the fantasy housing?

 

[Cajun]

I like talking to you. We have to take care of the most vulnerable.

Its why I talk to you. The mentally challenged need support.

 

[Crazy Source]

How dare you interrupt my shit-posting with this!

 

[Islam Imamate]

What was the fantasy housing?

Allowing people to buy manufactured homes and install them on their property or convert their single family homes into multifamily ones or build separate accessory dwelling units.

 

[Crazy Source]

Allowing people to buy manufactured homes and install them on their property or convert their single family homes into multifamily ones or build separate accessory dwelling units.

I live in a beach town where the workers can't live. They have to commute for 30-60 minutes at least. I keep watching these huge houses being built just to be $2500/wk rentals. This problem is only getting worse.

 

[LangfordBarrow]

Didn't remember that line but awesome! I enjoyed most of Bogarts major stuff. The fact that they fell in love there and she stayed with him to the day he died is a classic irl love story.

One of the all time great Hollywood beauties...

 

[Rob Battisti]

I live in a beach town where the workers can't live. They have to commute for 30-60 minutes at least. I keep watching these huge houses being built just to be $2500/wk rentals. This problem is only getting worse.

Never gonna change

 

[Cajun]

One of the all time great Hollywood beauties...

Absolutely. Sharp, sassy and beautiful. I've always felt like women in those days were beautiful as well as good actresses. It seems harder to find these days