
New Startup Working on Software to Help Government Fix Housing Problems - wyndham
http://www.govtech.com/biz/Exclusive-New-Startup-Working-on-Software-to-Help-Government-Fix-Housing-Problems-Enters-Y-Combinator.html
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caresource_ta
This doesn't seem like the case but Cathy O'Neil (the author of Weapons of
Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy)
raises the point that we often see algorithms implemented in non-traditional
ways when society faces tough questions. It makes me really hesitant about
using algorithms as silver bullets to solve hard problems in society.

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d3sandoval
Relevant XKCD: [https://xkcd.com/1831/](https://xkcd.com/1831/)

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simonebrunozzi
Our startup, Fabrica.city, is trying to solve housing problems by focusing on
the financial side of it, and "attacking" the issue of how to handle titles
digitally (and therefore, save costs, etc.).

It's early in our journey, but I hope that we'll be able to show some real
progress soon. Wish us luck :)

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DoreenMichele
Finance is a huge part of the problem, especially insofar as it currently
constrains what kind of housing can be built. Last I checked, co-housing
projects in the US were typically self financed because there were no loan
products available for them. So what is a mixed income development offering
affordable housing and high quality of life in most countries becomes housing
for mostly rich people desiring a certain lifestyle in the US because it can't
get financing here.

Best of luck.

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simonebrunozzi
Thanks!

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DoreenMichele
Not a bad idea. There are many instances where government policy has had the
exact opposite of the stated intended effect. One example: trying to preserve
the real character of an area by setting a large minimum lot size. The result:
places like Apple Valley, with giant houses set in the middle of huge yards.
It becomes an enclave of the rich and famous. In fact, Apple Valley is
reasonably popular with well heeled actors and movie biz people because it is
about 2 hours from LA/Hollywood.

If these folks can deliver on actual solutions for this problem space, more
power to them.

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saosebastiao
I like the goal, and I'd even love to work on something like this, but is this
a business or a non-profit project? Where are they gonna make money?

Also, I don't think reform is bottlenecked on data. At this point, we have
strong causal hypotheses and the data we do have supports those hypotheses
almost unilaterally. The problem is almost entirely in the hands of political
science: juridictional and generational politics, regulatory capture, etc..

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mseebach
Governments aren’t generally cash constrained at the core (they often are at
the margin, though) so if you can substantially contribute to solving a
problem government cares about, it can be quite lucrative.

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vadym909
Buy a 10 acre lot in a nimby area (Palo Alto Hiils/Atherton/Los Altos Hills)
for $5M, Split it into 20 x 0.25 acres and sell it for $250K each to teachers,
firefighters, police, retired army soldiers telling the buyers it is sold as-
is. Let them build houses on their lots and figure out the rest.

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rco8786
Ignoring the fact that undeveloped land in PA is going for about $3mm an acre,
What you’re talking about is commonly known as a subdivision. You need to
account for roads, utilities, zoning, etc. im also fairly certain you would
run into nimby problems even just by trying to subdivide and sell individual
lots.

You would also have no way (that I know of) of only selling to people like
teachers, firefighters, etc because of fair housing laws. There’s may be an
exception for military.

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electricslpnsld
> You would also have no way (that I know of) of only selling to people like
> teachers, firefighters, etc because of fair housing laws. There’s may be an
> exception for military.

Isn't the San Francisco school district doing precisely this for teachers? I
also recall reading that Stanford was securing housing nearby and 'selling' to
faculty members by granting them loans with super generous mortgage payments,
with the expectation that said faculty member will never actually pay off the
mortgage.

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yonran
From talking to SF Planning Department, my understanding is that a school
district can own housing and use it for employee housing, but another entity
(such as the Mayor’s Office of Housing) can’t rent only to a specific
profession.

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gruglife
Great idea but I don't think the government really cares about fixing this
issue.

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eksemplar
In Denmark we do, it’s one of the top priorities in most municipalities. As
nice as these ideas are, the solution isn’t software, it’s building more
affordable housing.

It may be different in the US, but we have really great censuses data on
everything mentioned here, and it seems strange an American government body
wouldn’t know where things like it’s taxes are coming from.

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axau
This is great, it is about time some scientific process was forced into a
system that sadly has been largely driven by protests of idiots in large
numbers so far.

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tehlike
I am not sure if the problem is scientific process, or greee of the nimbys. I
guess unless state overrides everything somehow and changes zoning and
increases # of stories allowed, and this somehow helps, then yes.

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axau
I agree, it won’t be enough, but it’s a great first step. Currently, given how
difficult it is to find reliable data, one often can’t easily disprove even
the most ridiculous of arguments (like the various groups in the Bay that
believe, almost literally, that to solve rising costs people should stop
building, rent control, BMR, and similar).

