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Originally Posted by GGG
They did fix the process they got rid of the part that didn’t make a difference in any development decision that came before the city.
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Did they fix the process? Or did they just outsource the decision making? Obviously I would argue the latter and I would conclude that
outsourcing the decision making is a terrible way to execute any strategy.
All this did was de-regulate the housing market in the same way that the UCP has been de-regulating insurance and electricity. They are selling you a concept that in execution can not deliver the desired outcomes because the supporting processes or market are not in place to make it successful and the people executing the strategy are not aligned with your outcomes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GGG
I read all your posts and agree with a lot of it but it makes no sense given your positions and philosophies basically everything else that you would oppose blanket rezoning. You are for everything blanket rezoning accomplishes.
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I understand the goal of blanket rezoning. My issue is the reality of the situation: In Calgary, specifically with our entirely private (and predatory) home developer industry, this strategy will harm people more than help them and prices will go up, not down.
In short, the strategy will fail because it is being executed by a group that is not aligned with the strategy or the outcomes - namely cost affordable housing.
The private home developers only care about profit.
Before we entertain the idea of blanket rezoning we should do basically everything else that I listed in my last post in order to create an environment where blanket rezoning will give you the results that you want.
What should happen in a happy hypothetical alternate reality where more populist/socialist processes, systems, and agents are already in place:
- The city development department acquires a $700,000 bungalow for development and then builds and sells two $650,000 infills for homeowners to buy. More homes, costs stay flat or go down because the public developer does not need to make profits, they just need enough money to cover their costs and stay afloat.
- Bonus points: create a city realtor that does not need to take a percentage of the house sale but can do the same paperwork.
What will happen in Calgary today:
- The private home builder acquires a $700,000 bungalow for development (probably by paying $50,000 above list with no conditions so no peasants can compete with the bid) and then builds and sells two $1,400,000 infills for homeowners to buy. Housing costs will constantly rise as the home builders reference their last sale as proof that they need to charge more in their next sale.
- Private realtors will continue to take their cut of every transaction and are motivated to keep costs moving up so that their cut keeps going up.
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Thank you for reading my thoughts. It has been great to be able to discuss the topic beyond just "yuck, I hate it".