People preferring detached houses is fine. Just take off the subsidies and let the market choose the mix between suburban houses and high density housing.
It is literally illegal to build apartments in many areas of the United States. That's because of local zoning laws limiting how many residential units are allowed per acre, minimum parking requirements, height restrictions, setback requirements, etc. The US government intervened in the mortgage market to make low interest 30 year loans broadly available (if a homeowner defaults and the foreclosure sale is not enough to cover the loan balance Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac are the investors holding the bag). Toll-free highways make commutes from suburbs to downtown possible.
> People preferring detached houses is fine. Just take off the subsidies and let the market choose the mix between suburban houses and high density housing.
Exactly. If someone wishes to own a detached single-unit residence, fine. I'd prefer they didn't but that's not my decision to make for an individual.
The problem comes when people want to control what's built within a quarter or half or full mile of the residence they own. (And, no, before someone comes at me with this specious reasoning, there's a huge difference between "build a nuclear power plant next to a daycare" and "different types of housing near each other.")
As a matter of public policy, I will always advocate that we do the environmental and financially efficient thing of building closer-in and closer-together. (We gotta add in some standards for noise transmission, too.) But preserving a specific type of housing in a specific location in amber forever is not reasonable and should not be continued.
It is literally illegal to build apartments in many areas of the United States. That's because of local zoning laws limiting how many residential units are allowed per acre, minimum parking requirements, height restrictions, setback requirements, etc. The US government intervened in the mortgage market to make low interest 30 year loans broadly available (if a homeowner defaults and the foreclosure sale is not enough to cover the loan balance Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac are the investors holding the bag). Toll-free highways make commutes from suburbs to downtown possible.