Gotcha thank you

My god as a 5th generation resident of Chelsea point #2 really pisses me off and further reinforces the fact you haven’t been here and have no idea what you’re talking about. The hardware store has been gone for decades. Market Basket has been in Chelsea for decades, and 10 years ago they invested millions into building a flagship location in the city, one of the biggest grocery stores on the east coast. They’re not going anywhere.

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Rent and real estate are high, but the city is also vastly improved from what it was 30 years ago; politically corrupt, financially ruined, and suffering with outdated infrastructure. I could write a novel on the amount of effort that went into getting us from the 90’s to now, but suffice to say, we don’t want to go back. We have a hugely diverse set of businesses, but there are plenty of locals hitting Starbucks in the morning, and folks that are even more excited that we have two new independent coffee shops open in the city in the past year. We are fighting our way up. Please do not begrudge us these positive changes.

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And hand in hand with all of these changes we have built and refurbished parks across the city, we have some of the most well established support organizations for those in need, and the city is constantly working to make sure it stays that way.

Thank you

Would you consider renovating it and renting it out or selling it?

When does the lease actually expire?

Legally, until the lease expires, yes you absolutely can insist that they continue to pay rent until replacements are found (though in return, you would be expected to expedite the process of finding those replacements), up until the lease expires.

Mind you, "insist" and "actually make them do so" are not the same thing. You might end up having to take them to court to get that money out of them.

...

OTOH, if the lease is up next week, and they didn't sign a renewal ... you're out of luck, unfortunately.

But I am not a lawyer.

You need to speak to one, to be absolutely sure of anything.

I like your ideas a lot

I am seeing that now, sort of

? I want more housing

Maybe I am socially inept but how are my replies critical?

Sure thing.

It is definitely a marketing thing. I should have specified that I mean “luxury” apartments. The apartments that look nice but are often built cheaply and quickly.

There was about a 10 year gap between the time I graduated college and the time my parents could retire. I’m pretty sure it will be at least another 10 years before they move on to “new accommodations.” Great, so I get an apartment I haven’t lived in for 20 something years!

“The NYU researchers even concede that some of these concerns have merit—for example, some new housing developments probably really will drive up prices nearby (more on that later), and the paper emphasizes that market-rate development alone won’t fix the housing crisis without the help government subsidized housing.

But Been and her colleagues still believe that “adding new homes moderates price increases and therefore makes housing more affordable”—period.”

Thank you for the sources. I feel like i understand this a bit more. Sounds like we need market-rate and affordable or subsidized housing, not just market-rate. Many commenters mentioned that developers are not incentivized to build affordable housing. How can we incentivize them?

Upvoting, not because I agree with everything you wrote, but because we should be having healthy discussions on housing.

I agree with you. Also thank you for sharing your experience with rent control.

Had not heard about these! Thank you!

I have gotten help and am continuing to do so. Not sure what disliking cats has to do with anything?

I was unaware of the BU situation. Thank you for imforming me and for adding context. That is a great example!

Edit changed ? to !

There's no precise definition of "luxury" housing.

Any newly built construction is going to cost more than older housing stock. People seem to understand that new cars cost more than used cars, but for whatever reason this understanding doesn't always translate to housing for some reason.

Developers then slap the word "luxury" on the marketing materials to make prospective buyers feel mildly better about spending $800K on a studio apartment. The studio doesn't cost $800K because it has fancy countertops and a gym with ellipticals that will be broken down within five years. It costs $800K because of local land prices and Boston's extremely low vacancy rate.

Ironically, you're helping out the developers you dislike when you perpetuate their advertising strategy of referring to high-priced apartments with basic amenities as "luxury units."

Solutions? The solution is actually pretty simple on a technical level but impossible politically.

1. Seize every golf course within 15 miles of the State House dome under eminent domain and build tens of thousands of cross-subsidized social housing units (similar to what you see in Vienna and Singapore) on the land.
2. Take zoning authority away from towns and give it back to the state. The state then does a Japan-style zoning reform where they define 10-15 different types of zoning categories, and local governments can have input on how those categories are applied locally. This makes permitting and construction cheaper and easier because you don't have every special snowflake town creating its own arcane zoning rules which means that all 351 cities and towns have to be approached differently with a legal team and political connections to get anything built.
3. Institute zoning minimums near public transit stations, and once that's established pull a Hong Kong MTR by using the "Rail + Property" business model to get real estate developers to fund public transit extensions along dense and valuable corridors.

Because these entitled pricks don’t want to live among the poors.

Ok true. Thank you.

Imposing rent controls take away incentives to build new apartments and to keep apartments on the market. It furthers the housing crisis. Rent controlled apartments only help the people who can manage to get them, building more housing will lead to lower rent prices in the suburbs.

https://youtu.be/geQsSNWK79o

Community servings

Yeah I'm prepared to get downvoted like I always do on this topic but whatever. I think my views are also mostly in line with the "all of the above" commenter above. But the Vienna case is just too successful and long lasting to be ignored.