{"items": [{"author": "Michael", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/10100132782444752?comment_id=10100132784251132", "anchor": "fb-10100132784251132", "service": "fb", "text": "Even if NYC was building a lot, flat prices could be explained by increasing demand.", "timestamp": "1579381620"}, {"author": "Patrick", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/10100132782444752?comment_id=10100132785673282", "anchor": "fb-10100132785673282", "service": "fb", "text": "What happened in 2015?", "timestamp": "1579382316"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/10100132782444752?comment_id=10100132785673282&reply_comment_id=10100132787270082", "anchor": "fb-10100132785673282_10100132787270082", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Patrick I think it was people trying to get permits in by a deadline: \"For the full year, the DOB authorized 16,269 housing units \u2013 nearly 40,000 shy of the 56,183 units authorized in 2015, a year in which the numbers were significantly bolstered by the rush from developers to get projects approved in time to take advantage of the 421-a program prior to its expiration.\"
https://www.buildingcongress.com/.../New-york-city...", "timestamp": "1579383153"}, {"author": "Phillip", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/10100132782444752?comment_id=10100132790648312", "anchor": "fb-10100132790648312", "service": "fb", "text": "New York City is a notoriously expensive place to build in terms of labor costs and bureaucracy. There are limited building opportunities and capital is going to go to the highest margin projects. Put another way, there are a lot of people who don't live in NYC who would buy there if there were desirable units to buy, AND ITS A WORLD WIDE MARKET. Boston is experiencing this same problem as buyers from all over the world now buy here. In Boston I think there is a cure, but not by building more in Boston. You have cites such as Lawrence and Lowell which were once great in their own right.If jobs were to move to them, people might follow. Lawrence, for example has a reputation for both corruption and drugs (a deadly combination). I can't tell you how to fix that, but that is one of the keys to fixing the problem. As long as you have a few highly desirable magnet cities (Boston, SF, NYC, DC, etc) and surrounding elite suburbs, you are gong to have a housing problem. As someone who lived through rent control in Cambridge, I admit it solves the problem as follows: 1) subsidizes people who take advantage (average income of rent control tenants was higher than average citizen in Cambridge) 2) Dissuade landlords from maintaining their property (you could also ways tell the rent control properties as they were run down) 3) Dissuade people from building more units.", "timestamp": "1579384785"}]}