Do you agree that increasing housing supply is only one side of the supply-demand equation for beating back Austin’s affordability crisis, and that Austin should refrain from subsidizing growth during times of rapid growth so as to reduce demand growth to levels that can be met with new supply? If so, in the Candidate Response section below, please tell us your ideas for ways to make Austin’s growth pay for itself. (Hint: You can refer to any of the materials parked on this page from the years of work conducted by local developers, Brian Rodgers and Ed Wendler, Jr., especially the power point at the bottom of the page Total Accounting and Impact Fees.) Rate your support on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the most support and 1 being the least.

This question is stated in the context that there is a market solution to our affordability issues, which I do not agree with. The market approach has created our crisis.

First, we need to assert the authority of the people over the State, which will allow us to declare the land of Austin as sovereign territory as owned by all generations of humans and all life. This is imperative, so we view all land development as a method of maximizing quality of life for all people across many eras. The reason this is important is that 90%+ of all existing construction is destructive to the environment and the people’s health. We must overcome this madness.

It is a true assertion that no individual or entity has the right to develop land for their private profit of a single-lifetime. We must establish that such development causes great harm to the health of our society and is completely counter-intuitive to any humanitarian or environmentally-conscious ideals.

Thus, all new land development will be for the maximization of the multigenerational vitality of all life. This means that the people have the collective ownership rights to develop in a way that is environmentally responsible, equitably inclusive, and build profit-sharing mechanisms to stimulate regenerative abundance in the community.

There is no scarcity of resources, nor is there a lack of available land to house the people and their behaviors. We will likely become a city of many millions over the next centuries, and it is incumbent upon us to build that system where we can accommodate that population growth while simultaneously eliminating costs of living and maximizing vitality of life experience for ALL.

The only way to make growth “pay for itself” is to invest first in the people’s vitality, the Earth’s protection, and recognize the undeniable truth: money does nothing, people do everything. There are no limits.

Rate your support: 5