Catering to Highly Educated Whites is Disastrous for Housing Policy

[Celerity]

Another reason Democrats need the working class.

https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/catering-to-highly-educated-whites

Port Chester, NY, which has much less restrictive zoning than neighboring Scarsdale, has a population that is 69 percent black and Hispanic.

In June, Ruy Teixeira gave us, “Five Reasons Why Democrats Should Focus Obsessively on Working-Class Voters” in order to win elections. To add to that compelling case, here’s a sixth reason: the increasing reliance of the Democratic Party on highly educated, upper-middle class white voters comes at a big cost when sitting down to craft public policy. Nowhere is that more evident than on the issue of housing. In my new book, Excluded: How Snob Zoning, NIMBYism and Class Bias Build the Walls We Don’t See, I outline the host of ways in which exclusionary land use policies—such as bans on multifamily housing and minimum lot sizes—harm the country as a whole, and working Americans in particular.

As a matter policy, then, removing exclusionary barriers ought to be a no-brainer for Democrats generally, and especially so for liberal patriots, who see the universal worth of all Americans and don’t want anyone to feel looked down upon or excluded. The challenge, however, is that research finds some of the most egregious forms of exclusionary zoning are often found in politically liberal states and cities. In a recent article in The Atlantic, I examined the New York City suburb of Scarsdale, which comes close to banning any type of multifamily housing. According to data provided to me by New York University’s Furman Center, just 0.2 percent of Scarsdale’s lots contain structures classified as two-or three bedroom homes or apartments. The walls that Scarsdale has erected help explain why its population has a median income nearly three times that of nearby Port Chester, and a population that is 87 percent white or Asian. By contrast, Port Chester, which has much less restrictive zoning, has a population that is 69 percent black and Hispanic. Port Chester is home to many landscapers, housekeepers, and child care providers. They may provide services to families in Scarsdale, but they are effectively prevented from living there.



Earlier this year, New York’s moderate Democratic governor Kathy Hochul tried to do something about these laws that exclude and drive up the price of homes. She proposed a Housing Compact to build 800,000 homes in the next 10 years, with localities required to boost the permitting of housing. If they failed to, a new state process would have been put in place to provide fast-track approval of new housing. The proposal went down in flames, even though many consider the state legislature more liberal than Hochul. The New York suburbs—many of them heavily Democratic—rebelled and defeated the legislation. One Assembly source told New York Focus, “There were a lot of members who though they’d get killed in re-election if they were overriding local control.” The source said: “All the suburban members were very thankful that the mandates are out.” Melanie Spivak, a Scarsdale Neighborhood Associations board member, celebrated the defeat of Hochul’s plan. “Local control of our zoning laws and building requirements are imperative to protecting our unique village,” she said.

Democrats were put in a tough position because they have become increasingly reliant on votes from communities like Scarsdale. In presidential elections, Barack Obama won Scarsdale by a comfortable 12 points in 2012, but Hillary Clinton won the town by an astounding 57 points in 2016. And Joe Biden won Scarsdale 75 percent to 24 percent in 2020. It’s hard—though not impossible—to ignore the voices of those who deliver Democratic votes by such large margins. This challenge is national in scope. The old Bobby Kennedy coalition of working-class Democrats of all races is long gone, and the party’s shift toward highly educated voters has accelerated in recent years. As Teixeira has noted, between 2012 and 2020, the Democratic Party’s support among college-educated white people rose by sixteen points, while its advantage among nonwhite working-class supporters declined by nineteen points.

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[Sympthsical]

1. We're dealing with this in my town

I live in a fairly affluent valley next to Napa. It's basically four housing developments. Two of them have about 150 single family homes. The other two are town homes, maybe 400 total.

During the pandemic, housing prices skyrocketed 30% as people fled the city to cheaper housing. Good for me who bought in 2019. Less good for those emigrating from the SF/Oak/SJ/SV zones.

One thing my area has in abundance is open, unused land. If you go a hundred yards north of me, it's vineyards and agricultural area. However, there is tons of completely unused land in the southern end of the valley. If you idly glance at my area's NextDoor, you'll see one overriding topic come up again and again - new housing. They do not want it. They fight it. They threaten city council members who even entertain the idea (and these are the people with way too much money who can get town officials to show up to explain themselves at whim).

The city wants to build more apartments and wants to make plans for a new K-8 school in the area. My neighbors are not having it, absolutely not, how dare anyone even think about it.

The Bay Area needs housing. It just does. We have crazy amounts of land in Solano County that is not being used. But my town - which is 2/3 Democratic in elections - does not want the poors anywhere near them. We recently finally built an apartment complex in the area over the past two years. However, it's a "luxury complex" (in the sticks?!) where the smallest one bedroom starts at $2250/month. Service workers ain't livin there.

It's the only kind of housing my neighbors will allow. "If you're going to build, it has to be high end only. To keep the 'character' of the area." And by character, they just mean "not poor." And new houses? Forget it. No new developments. They think the town should stay the same forever and ever.

Hey man, my neighbors worked hard to build a neighborhood for themselves from which they can virtue signal faux empathy from afar. They'll be damned if they'll let any high-falutin public policy helping people in need change it!

My neighbors are something. My house is nice, tho.

[Celerity]

2. lets see how good my search skills are, lol (btw, even if you had not typed Solano, I knew that was

the valley/county you were taking about, as we have been looking at the Bay area for years in case we decide to move back to the US)

San Diego and LA are the only other places besides the Bay area we would also considered, especially LA as we have already lived there (Marina del Rey), and it is where I was born.

We recently finally built an apartment complex in the area over the past two years. However, it's a "luxury complex" (in the sticks?!) where the smallest one bedroom starts at $2250/month. Service workers ain't livin there.

Nova at Green Valley Apartments - Fairfield

[Sympthsical]

3. Impressive google fu!

That is exactly the complex I'm discussing. I drive past it all the time as it's about a mile from me. It looks really nice! But $2,200 for a studio isn't worker friendly.

Don't get me wrong. I love where I live. So pretty, clean air, lots of nature, decent climate, access to multiple cities and lots of culture.

But we need to start helping people.

[Celerity]

5. wifey calls me the bloodhound, lol

I did make a major mistake as I had always assumed you lived in San Francisco proper, lol. Somewhere like Noe Valley, or Crocker-Amazon, or The Avenues.

You strike me as a city lad.

But Solano is beautiful as well.

[Sympthsical]

6. I used to live and work around Berkeley

But once house-buyin' time arrived, North Bay was runaway the most house for the buck. However, all my socializing is city-based (just had lunch there this past weekend), because most of my friends live in exactly the places you just mentioned. I'm pretty sure Noe Valley has some kind of secret factory that churns out fully formed professional gays in their 30s, 40s, and 50s.

It's funny, because my friends keep saying they're jealous and want to retire to wine country. Neither my partner nor I drink, so the whole cultural appeal is completely wasted on us, lol. We just wanted, you know, a living room.

My real plan is to eventually move to Pacifica for the cold of it all. My biothermal aesthetic is decidedly Aleutian in nature.

[Celerity]

8. roflmaoooooooooooooooooo

I'm pretty sure Noe Valley has some kind of secret factory that churns out fully formed professional gays in their 30s, 40s, and 50s.

[Brainfodder]

4. Just disturbed and dumbfounded that we still can't manage basics for our people?

Now matter where you are, big picture, embarrassing greed.

[marble falls]

7. And how! Greedy developers and real estate investors need some regulation. San Francisco ...

... should be a warning sign and not a goal.

Maybe the Federal government needs to get involved with at least low cost rental properties for the middle class ...

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

9. I lived in one of these "low apartment" neighbourhoods

When I moved here, our entire zip code had, I think, 3 complexes of flats, and rental houses were nearly impossible to come by. The guy who had been winning city council elections for the district was a traitor thug who opposed all proposals for flats. He barely approved a couple of condo complexes. Our zip code used to be reliably traitor thug.

Before we moved here, an election instituted term limits for city council, and so he was out within a year or two of us becoming residents. Then these massive complexes of flats trickled in. Now we have dozens of them. When the first flats went up, our district started turning purple, politically, with back-and-forth congressional and state reps for a while. Then we became solid blue, and have been that way ever since. I am absolutely positive that it's because so many working class people moved here.

Yet I'm torn on having the flats here. The developers stupidly built almost all of the complexs along the only bit of open land with not the easiest access, and it has zero public transit along its four mile stretch. That means the thousands of new people living there must have cars, and of course now we have a choking amount of congestion befall our formerly quiet streets. I used to be able to get to the grocery store a mile away in under two minutes. Now, it can take me as much as half an hour to get there, if I hit the wrong pocket of traffic.

I'm glad a more diverse group of people now have a chance to live in a lovely neighbourhood with easy access to great schools and all kinds of amenities. I only wish the city wouldn't have been so stupid as to arrange zero public transit for them to get around. Before COVID, I hated the bad traffic so much if I needed to go the grocer's at a peak time that I wouldn't even bother with driving. I'd stroll down to the bus stop and let them do the driving for me. I'm not alone in that. A bunch of us neighbourhood veterans would take the bus when we knew our main drag would be congested, rather than waste our own gas on trying to get through that hell. I'm sure a bunch of those newcomers would appreciate being able to do the same.