Great article….

It absolutely underscores the devastation caused by land use regulations such as zoning, nimby, FAR-ordinances etc.

Once again, regulation in the United States screws over the poor. We see this same issue carried out on the east coast in New York. Historical, zoning laws, and nimbyism in Park Slope makes the most affluent neighborhood in Brooklyn off limits to development. Where do the developers go to, the poorer neighborhoods. Subesquently, the middle class and poor are pushed further and further into the margins.

Tokyo, whose housing policies are far more free market and less regulatory, does not suffer with these issues.

This is great journalism. We need more investigative reporting of this sort revealing the dark underside of government regulation!!!!