Thread by @FreedomFriesInc

An interesting thread of points from the attached opinion piece.

A couple of points I want to add:

The pandemic stagnated the population as a whole in 2021, and that is temporary...

https://twitter.com/bopinion/status/1476956929876545540

Travel restrictions are the main reason for declining lawful immigration worldwide. When immigration came to a screeching halt, most countries were worse off as a result. Skilled labor shortages were enough of a challenge before the pandemic... it's gone crazy now.

The idea that even the US can be functional without skilled foreign migrants and temporary guest workers is a nonsense.

Demand levels in specific industries are too fluid for the long process of domestic education and training to respond in time. Even truer outside the US.

There *will* be pandemics like this one, in future. Like earthquakes, we can predict that they will happen, just not when they will happen.

Public awareness of pandemic response duties at every level are now much better than they were before.

So we know right now that if a pandemic is not adequately addressed by government and business, an unsustainable level of harm will follow.

Skilled labor supply is a critical issue. It tends to intersect with public debate over affordable housing. And it's ripe for xenophobia.

The Bloomberg opinion piece also talks about domestic migration trends within the US. Inter-state migration seems just as open to exploitation by xenophobic politicians. Economic push-pull factors drive people into already crowded metro areas, leaving behind a housing surplus.

Here's my suggestion for cities and counties with increasingly unaffordable homes, based on international experience.

Well-designed regulation to intervene in the design and construction market is required.

One of the leading causes of housing shortage is that companies involved in design and construction are allowed to ignore affordable housing at the expense of higher profits in the sprawling, bespoke housing market.

Regulation can be a win-win solution for all affected groups.

People in the market for a starter home are willing to live in a smaller, cheaper home while climbing the property ladder. They will gladly accept a boring, mass-produced design bc in 10 or 15 years they will be ready to spend more on the kind of home they ultimately want.

A city or county has the right to determine how land will be used and what the design & construction market will look like in their jurisdiction.

They can adjust the policy levers to incentivize the building of more starter homes, while keeping bigger home builds ticking over.

Smart urban planning for mixed zones is very important. Customers with more ability to pay are still going to want their bigger, better home in the area, which comes at a premium. It's in everyone's interest to have affordable housing available within reasonable distance.

The status quo is not sustainable. Sprawling cities with rapidly inflating housing cost are not nice places to live. You can't stop people moving there, but you can tweak the housing market to soften the blow economically, socially, and politically.