Comment on Has any country actually _solved_ the housing crisis?

infinitevalence@discuss.online ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

• fireweed@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  Japan is an outlier for numerous reasons, the biggest of which is that housing value there decreases over time (without going into the causes, the result is a feedback loop where housing isn’t built to last, so it depreciates like other semi-short-lived products, such as cars). This isn’t something the government planned, it came about naturally. So I wouldn’t say they’ve “solved” housing so much as their situation has made it a non-issue.

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  • finitebanjo@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    Japan also has longtime low population growth due to a mixture of nationalist anti-immigration and just generally low birthrates.

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• BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  This is both false and true. Japan has a few things happening that are keeping rates lower, but the primary thing keeping costs low in Japan is the fact that the units are tiny. I’m not talking a little on the small side, I’m talking 200 square feet or less per person in a family home. No yards either.

  If you compare Japan to the dwelling sizes of other nations, it’s just as bad or worse per square foot.

  The end goal for solving housing should not be to make the rooms as small as possible. Especially in countries where land space isn’t the limiting factor.

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  • ch00f@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    I mean there are a ton of efficiencies to be gained with using communal resources.

    Why can’t a bunch of people share a park rather than needing their own back yard?

    Not saying it shouldn’t be an option, but the American obsession with detached housing at the cost of higher density housing is a major contributor to insane housing costs.

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    • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      Sure, but apartments at 1000 square feet shouldn’t be unaffordable in north American cities, but they are.

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  • SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    By making the rooms smaller you’re just kicking the can down the road. Eventually the price inflation will catch up and even those shoeboxes will cost a fortune.

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  • FindME@lemmy.myserv.one ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    The housing I remember in Japan was the coffin box. A little space long enough for you to lie down in, with a small cubby for items. I think it was about 30 sq. ft. and maybe 90 cu. ft.

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