Safe Systems Civil Engineer

Housing cost disease in a nutshell

This is awesome! I need to visit again youtu.be/NxGYs8kHxw4?si…

Jane Jacobs bought her West Village home for $7,000 in 1947. $100K in today’s dollars. $6M in reality. “I could never afford it now.” The American Dream didn’t disappear, we gated it.

Must visit place! youtu.be/mpWm45qting?si…

Most of America’s affordability crisis and car dependence come from the same source: locally dominant land-use rules that block enough homes in accessible places.

An important point: cyclists are still subject to penalties for breaking traffic rules - but the bizarre inequality that treated a bicyclist more harshly than a driver of a two-ton SUV for the same offense has ended.

Baby boomers aren't selling their homes & why would they? They paid $120,000 for a home 25+ years ago, owe $0 & have $550k+ of equity. "Downsizing" means they'd need to buy something for $450k + take on a 6.5% loan. ...Many won't move & this will keep inventory low.

Unfunded inclusionary zoning mandates require home builders to rent units at a loss. They raise the cost of building new housing, worsen our housing shortage, and raise housing costs across the board. This is bad, counterproductive policy that California should abandon entirely.

@CompletedStreet does same for bike infrastructure..

Sprawl makes transit 100x more difficult to implement.

@cityaestheticss Only if they are full. A side view would have been better.

More people are in the busses than in the cars

@Boenau Love it, but these posts should note density and car ownership rate before the improvements.

Barcelona rearranged space for lots of people to easily get around on bicycles. Now lots of people get around on bicycles.

@AlHendiify #BackTo3

I’m going say this til I die: business landlords are a principal reason things in your city are unaffordable, why businesses want you in and out of the door, why wages are so low, jobs are so understaffed, and why small businesses aren’t multi generational.

@berkie1 When willl we see TOD at all bus stops, allowing a homeowner to add and an apartment to her single family home by right and duplex by right for all new construction at developers option? This can only happen through state action. #BackTo3

There’s no path to regional housing affordability that doesn’t include building a lot more market-rate housing. When we implement policies that restrict new housing production, we make the problem worse, no matter how well-intentioned the policy may be.

Terrible question by Jake Tapper. Pat Ryan is a keeper. youtube.com/shorts/X_LMiOL…

The average used-car loan amount was $27,528 in Q4 2025, according to Experian. The average new-car loan amount was $43,582 in Q4 2025, also according to Experian. Our land-use system makes car use functionally mandatory for most Americans.

@Boenau Certain land use rules created scarcity making g home 6,8,10x more expensive that they should be AND adding more and more traffic by design to our overwhelmed roadways. Land use induces demand for cars and driving.

If every time a factory churned out a $15 widget it also dumped toxic sludge into the river that gave the town downstream liver disease, we'd all agree the widgets cost far more than $15. Certain types of road projects are known to INCREASE the number & severity of traffic crashes. The societal cost is over a trillion dollars annually. Imagine if this was openly discussed and regularly covered by corporate media outlets.

simple bump-outs + most traffic circle --------------------- very calm intersection 🥳

Talking about transportation without mentioning underlying land use is like trying to explain the solar system without mentioning the sun.