'Supply-Side' Arguments, and Why Geography, Scale, and Migration Matter

When it comes to housing, supply and demand isn’t as simple as it seems (or as simple as some boosters would like us to think), and a supply-side strategy will not work in every context to address affordability, including in hot neighborhoods.

1 minute read

April 2, 2016, 5:00 AM PDT

By Keli_NHI


Rick Jacobus's article, "Why We Must Build," published by Shelterforce a couple of weeks ago, has created quite a buzz. Jacobus is smart, and has been writing on the topic of affordable housing and land trusts for a while. The supply-siders have wishfully interpreted the piece as unquestionably supporting their "build, baby, build" agenda, with BeyondChron going so far as to share the piece, saying: "Why building housing reduces displacement." That isn't the simplistic argument Jacobus's article makes—even if he positions himself as a bit of a market rationalist, he clearly didn’t write this long and thoughtful piece to simply be a booster for market-rate development, and his article shouldn't be interpreted as such. A few parts of his article make this clear and deserve further attention, while others are troubling and in need of correction.

Friday, April 1, 2016 in Shelterforce/Rooflines

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