Tuesday, April 4, 2017

What Nashville can learn from Seattle

How to break up a homeowner cartel that raises prices by blocking new entry:
In large and small ways, these homeowners, who tend to be white, more affluent and older than the average resident, have shaped neighborhoods in their reflection — building a city that is consistently rated as one of the nation’s most livable, as well as one of its most expensive. ...
The homeowner-dominated neighborhood councils have typically argued against land use changes that would allow more density (in the form of townhouses and apartment buildings) in and near Seattle’s traditional single-family neighborhoods, which make up nearly two-thirds of the city. Including more renters and low-income people in the mix could dilute, or even upend, those groups’ agendas.

In other words, the neighborhood councils act like cartel managers who prevent lower-priced entrants (higher density apartments) from serving lower-income, would-be homeowners and renters. The result is higher prices that benefit the cartel members (homeowners).

What would it take to break the cartel-like function of Nashville's zoning process?

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