this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2023
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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.

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[–] 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.

[–] 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?

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

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

[–] banana 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.