'Supply-Side' Arguments, and Why Geography, Scale, and Migration Matter

Rick Jacobus's article, "Why We Must Build," published by Shelterforce a couple of weeks ago, has created quite a buzz. Jacobus is smart, and has been writing on the topic of affordable housing and land trusts for a while. The supply-siders have wishfully interpreted the piece as unquestionably supporting their "build, baby, build" agenda, with BeyondChron going so far as to share the piece, saying: "Why building housing reduces displacement." That isn't the simplistic argument Jacobus's article makes—even if he positions himself as a bit of a market rationalist, he clearly didn’t write this long and thoughtful piece to simply be a booster for market-rate development, and his article shouldn't be interpreted as such. A few parts of his article make this clear and deserve further attention, while others are troubling and in need of correction.