Serious Housing Shortage

I have just been reading about the Airbnb rental market, and apparently,, it is crashing, along with the housing markets in some areas. Some people bought houses just to use as Airbnb rentals because that has been a big trend for a while now. Robin and I have stayed in one the last few times we went out west to the Seattle area and needed a place to stay.
I am not sure why the market is dropping, but maybe it is because there are just too many of them available now, and people are not traveling as much with the economy downturn.

In any case, as the owners are putting their Airbnb houses on the market to sell or rent long term, now we are getting an oversupply of these.
The graphs that I was looking at are showing a big loss in the housing market, and some places are now experiencing a lot of vacant houses and apartments for rent.

This might be a really good thing for @Cody Fousnaugh , because there will be good deals coming available if apartments have a lot of empty units and have to give bargains to get them rented before winter. Once School starts, a lot of people will not be moving, so they only have another month of opportunity.

 

The City of Charlottesville, in an effort for "affordable housing," is greatly increasing the density of the city. In 2013 they preserved the residential neighborhoods. Now they are going full-bore slum as some areas are being designated for 6 units per lot, while others are being designated as 8 units per lot if they are designated as "affordable." I don't know the specifics behind that designation.

This city was established in 1762. Traffic is already busting at the seams. So now they are going to increase traffic, schools, utilities, etc 8 fold, with only the existing base paying for it all as their standard of living goes down the toilet.

 

That has been a part of the global agenda since Agenda 21. In some areas, you can't get a permit to build a home unless you include an additional housing unit. The idea is that, while the global elite will be able to move from one spacious estate to another, the rest of us will be lucky to find a place to be alone. Don't think for one moment that these greenspaces and wilderness areas are for the rest of us.

 

I used to commute through Pantops from Louisa County to my job up by the airport. After I retired in 2014, I hadn't been in that area in several years. When I went back, it was as though the traffic had increased five-fold.

Don't get me started about traffic near the hospital. My nephrologist has his practice there.

 

I just read a post on Next Door about this issue of high-density housing in the county just south of me. I did not move there because they are anti-business, so the majority of tax dollars come from real estate taxes. The board of supervisors blew some enormous sum of money on an unneeded new high school, only to realize that they did not have the cash to open it and pay for maintenance for the upcoming year.

The comment said that while the zoning called for a max of 5 homes per acre, the developer could take the total acreage, divide by 5, crams that number of residences into a tiny spot, and sell the rest to retail and parking lots.

So far, the sneaky bastards in my county are putting the development near a main highway and the interstate, around where the Lowes and Walmart and 900 home subdivision are. Plus TWO car washes. They are adding a 500 resident apartment complex plus 2 different developments of town homes. That's all run off of wells hitting the same aquifer. It's a dangerous game they're playing. They may kill the huge tax source of all those businesses, and displace the residents.

Re: phrenology...I cannot recall if it was Inspector Clouseau or Hercule Poirot who referred to "bimps" on the noggin. I believe it was Poirot.