Quote:
Originally Posted by powderjunkie
It doesn't matter if it's the primary hindrance or not. But it is definitely a hindrance. Again, builders make profit by building things people want to live in (or have other people live in). Do they always get it perfect? Of course not. City building is messy and we've been getting things wrong for decades under the current land-use bylaw (particularly wrt car dependency). But we can do better, and rezoning helps.
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I mean... it does matter. Otherwise you are just moving the goal posts and/or disregarding the bigger issue for the smaller issue that you think is more fun (even if it is less important to the success of the overall strategy). Neither of those arguments are very good.
If you change the zoning but do not change how the private developers dominate the market and make all of the decisions as to what is built and what is not built, how it is built, and what price it is sold for, then the rezoning strategy is just going to be a free-for-all for developers to profit and for housing costs to continue to climb. We already know what strategies like this look like as the city/private developers have a history of failing to deliver these strategies.
If the rezoning does not reduce or even slow down the rising housing prices then it is a failure. However, by the time people figure out that the strategy has failed, it will be too late to go back and do a better job.
The oversimplification of how housing developers "make profit" and then convert it into a self fulfilling argument that what they do is acceptable because "someone buys it" really scores no points. Of course someone is buying whatever the private developers build, what choice do they have? There are no alternatives in Calgary aside from buying something from a private developer. That doesn't mean that it is good or that the private developers are not inflating prices in order to inflate their profits... what it means is that there are no alternatives. People are just hoping that they are buying from an honest private developer instead of one that cuts corners while also overcharging for what they built.
It is also interesting that at the same time you are advocating that the city is doing a great job in this rezoning effort you also say that they would be "messy" at doing the building themselves. Which one is it? Is the city clever or a hot mess?