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this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2024
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I like to post that in 1960, we had a minimum wage of $1.00/hour and the average US home cost $11,000.00
Whenever I do, someone will point out that houses today are, on average, bigger.
They never mention tiny homes and six people sharing a two bedroom apartment...
Houses are bigger because lots are bigger, so developers have to build bigger houses on them in order for the improvement value to be high enough to turn a profit.
Lots are bigger because the zoning code was designed to make them too expensive for minorities to afford, once the Fair Housing Act came through and de-jure segregation and restrictive deed restrictions were outlawed.
In other words, not only is "the houses today are bigger" not really the rebuttal people saying it think it is (because it's not driven by genuine market forces), they're also defending institutional racism.
Also, in my area I see a lot of beautiful old pre-1950s houses get torn down to be replaced by a dozen shoebox condominiums stacked three high.
They also fail to mention that the cost of materials today is wildly lower making larger homes easier to achieve. Not to also mention advances in building techniques.