> The fix to the housing crisis would be to invest in rural areas again
There’s actually a really big, fundamental problem with this approach. Cities hugely subsidize rural infrastructure already. Tax income generated by rural (and even suburban) developments can’t repay the construction and maintenance cost required for upkeep. Partly because it’s not dense, and partly because typical rural/suburban economic development looks like a stroad with chain restaurants and huge parking lots. (Where most of the land isn’t being economically productive, and the land that is isn’t really boosting the local economy that much.)
There’s actually a really big, fundamental problem with this approach. Cities hugely subsidize rural infrastructure already. Tax income generated by rural (and even suburban) developments can’t repay the construction and maintenance cost required for upkeep. Partly because it’s not dense, and partly because typical rural/suburban economic development looks like a stroad with chain restaurants and huge parking lots. (Where most of the land isn’t being economically productive, and the land that is isn’t really boosting the local economy that much.)
https://youtu.be/7Nw6qyyrTeI