this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2023
20 points (85.7% liked)

Vancouver

1430 readers
3 users here now

Community for the city of Vancouver, BC

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

When it comes to addressing the housing crisis, few people think about zoning. The correlation isn’t easily apparent, despite this being the most powerful tool cities have.

top 8 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

More than one word: zoning was used as a weapon of class warfare a long time ago and needs updating.

Also: cheap clickbait title to a news page littered with notification/subscription spam. Archive.is is needed.

[–] Rocket@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

zoning was used as a weapon of class warfare a long time ago and needs updating.

Is it not working as a weapon anymore?

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Only in the deep recesses of the minds of people who will only ever see themselves as victims.

[–] Rocket@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

What changes would you recommend to see it become a useful weapon again?

[–] RehRomano@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'd be curious to hear why restrictive zoning limiting access to a majority of our largest cities is not considered weaponizing. Do you really think this isn't a problem anymore?

[–] banana@communick.news 7 points 1 year ago

Helen Lui has been hitting it out of the park with her recent articles. She is a good one to follow on Twitter for this type of stuff, too.

[–] Rocket@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

few people think about zoning.

Huh? In my experience, that's the first thing people think about.

Hell, a significant number of housing-related articles posted here are about suggesting alternative affordability solutions to remind us that there are other approaches we can try when trying to fix zoning has been unsuccessful.

[–] RehRomano@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think it's easy to forget communities like this one, twitter, or even city-related subreddits are still very, very small fractions of the general population. People I talk to outside these bubbles are shocked to learn it's practically illegal to build an apartment in 80% of the land in Vancouver and Toronto, or the further implications on affordability.