It looks like you can't see the real issue: too many people want to live in NYC. If you make it cheaper to own, build or rent in NYC even more people will come and the there will not be enough housing. Perhaps people should be encouraged to live somewhere else/in more places? Living in NYC is not a human right either.
The problem is that when the cost of living goes up, it tends to force out poorer residents that have been there for many years.
Encouraging people to just live somewhere else because they can no longer afford the home they've owned for decades undermines the entire premise of home ownership because it means that you may own the deed today, but you only control the property as long as the financial system underpinning your local real estate market operates within a range that you can afford.
And in 40 years when you're retired and on a fixed income that assumed you'd be paying a property tax rate that has now doubled and you can no longer afford the property, then it becomes your turn to GTFO and make room for the people who can afford it.
>>Encouraging people to just live somewhere else because they can no longer afford the home they've owned for decades undermines the entire premise of home ownership
Who is to blame that you stagnated financially all these years and the place you lived increased in value? You could sell the property you own and move somewhere else(cheaper) "living like a millionare". Chances are that if you are too poor to afford tax on the property you own or the places around (i.e restaurants surely got more expensive too) then you don't fell like you belong there anymore. You find the place hostile. Your friends may have moved as well or now they are too rich to hang out with you. If you don't want to get into this situation you should either make sure you have enough money when you retire or plan your retirement somewhere else or just consider that buying a property in the world's biggest financial center doesn't mean you will afford it forever. Change is part of life. Also consider that when you purchased your house you increased the value of the properties around and forced some people to move somewhere elese too. It's the circle of life, survival of the fittest.
I find it right that millionaire and less millionare eldery don't fell bad for young people whining that they can't live anywhere else except the "old town"/city center / downtown of the old people. The value of the land is really given by the people living there.
The existing paradigm creates extremes. We have Manhattan filled with 40-100 story skyscrapers, then we have the other boroughs with much less. We've got suburban NJ, CT, and NY. If those areas stopped their restrictive zoning policies, and allowed building more density, then the people who wanted to live in NYC could do so, and the people who wanted to live near NYC could do so.
When you take a look at Tokyo, who have had stable housing prices, and have a sane zoning system, what you see is that people can live where they want to live. Yes you have some skyscrapers. But you also have many places that aren't.
