The Shame of Palo Alto: An Interview with Kate Downing on Affordable Housing
It seems that we made a pact with the devil by positioning housing as an investment asset. By doing so, we&#x27;ve encouraged people to commit a very large fraction of their net worth into a rather illiquid asset, tying their financial fates to the future assessment of that asset. As a result, protecting the price and appreciation of this asset has come to overshadow the other crucial roles that housing plays in our society.<p>If I bought shares in AAPL at $50 (now $100+) and someone comes along asking that AAPL let them buy some shares for say, $65, I&#x27;m obviously not going to be happy since the value of my investment is under threat. This is the kind of reaction we&#x27;ve unfortunately promoted for ourselves. It didn&#x27;t have to be this way, as other countries have shown us. But now that we&#x27;re here, it&#x27;s hard to imagine a way to turn back time.