Easy to see why aren't they improving. There are legal limits to the amount of housing that can be built, because of zoning and NIMBY. So if they became more efficient, they won't build more - they'd just fire some of their workers. Now unions prevent that because construction industry is heavily unionised.
Fix? There is no fix until less than 50% of voters will be satisfied with their housing situation. Then, pro-housing candidates will get an upper hand.
My belief is that in free society, in long term, housing has to be a limiting factor - democracy itself dictates that, because people want their homes to build equity and these people vote.
Is residential construction heavily unionized? I could imagine it is for apartment buildings in NYC, but I doubt it is for building houses in the suburbs. As far as I know, it relies heavily on independent contractors.
Comments
Easy to see why aren't they improving. There are legal limits to the amount of housing that can be built, because of zoning and NIMBY. So if they became more efficient, they won't build more - they'd just fire some of their workers. Now unions prevent that because construction industry is heavily unionised.
Fix? There is no fix until less than 50% of voters will be satisfied with their housing situation. Then, pro-housing candidates will get an upper hand.
My belief is that in free society, in long term, housing has to be a limiting factor - democracy itself dictates that, because people want their homes to build equity and these people vote.
Is residential construction heavily unionized? I could imagine it is for apartment buildings in NYC, but I doubt it is for building houses in the suburbs. As far as I know, it relies heavily on independent contractors.