I guess this must be new, for Houston to be on the net domestic “loser” board - but a couple things come to mind.
I don’t know how to say it prettily so I will just say it plainly: a lot of Houston natives love Houston, they love it warts and all, they are proud of its scrappy hated-on status, much like San Antonio is proud of being “puro”. Or they are old enough to remember or have participated in a time when it was earnestly improving itself … in ways that did bear belated fruit, and they have a bubble social world that is more like a small town. (The bubble is not a true geographic bubble; Houston has no such.)
And Houston has been through some stuff, to say the least, that can have a unifying effect.
My nuclear family all remain in Houston and I have never heard them say a disparaging word about it, nor about the United Nations rainbow of newcomers*, despite the fact that the city used to be all “ours” or at any rate black-and-white ours, and now much of it belongs to others, permanently - no-go in a sense that isn’t even tightly connected with a sense of fear - the fear is for those others to feel or not as various ethnicities rub up against each other and exchange violence; and I think this Panglossian contentment is not uncommon with people who have spent their lives there.
Plus “everybody” has a weekend place somewhere else.
But most people elsewhere know to hate Houston and would need a great job offer to contemplate moving there.
And moreover, to visit Houston now is to feel you have stepped into - not an actual 3rd world bazaar, which may possibly be charming, but a dystopian one.
Even if you think you like that - and I’m sure some do, your Tyler Cowens and Alex Tabarroks would or would for a weekend - for the average American contemplating a domestic move, it may come across as leaving America in some sense.
Kind of like shopping in a TJ Maxx writ large.
This will probably fade as all places come to resemble Houston.
*I was one of those people without TV so that when Anthony Bourdain died, though I had heard the name or seen it on a book, with the Elvis-like grief I eventually googled him to recall who he was, and discovered one of his last appearances on film had been at my high school.
(In whose cafeteria over 4 years I never purchased a single food item other than the margarine-shiny rolls.)
Turns out globalist that he was, and enjoying a little poke in the eye of the elite local food scene, he had selected it precisely because of its supposed crossroad of the world aspect, or at least those parts of the world that have a lot of interesting street food.
Overall mobility has been falling for years, but labor availability and the ages of each cohort's children are the driving factor from my perspective. Young workers are forced to stay where the jobs are or where their existing network is which is most likely to be large, expensive metros.
It's riskier to make a major move to a smaller, lower cost area while hiring is so weak. For Millennial couples (+ maybe young children), finding one job is hard enough, let alone two. Finding a childcare solution is as difficult as finding a job.
Older movers are dominated by retirees but those Gen Xers that are moving have older children that might be in high school or college and therefore don't need to make much consideration to after school care or daycare like younger parents will.
We already know the median age of a repeat homebuyer is 55+. Financial ability and a lack of a job (retirement) means there is a lot more flexibility to move anywhere.
The Access-A-Ride one could be staggering as these are highly subsidized and ADA mandated, so difficult to "attack".
A shuttle can cost up to $100 a passenger (the Uber ones are much cheaper, but still multiples more expensive compared to a bus or subway) compared to the $3 fare.
The city *can* legally charge the Access-A-Ride passenger $6, but the goodness of the politicians and the generosity of the New York City taxpayer just can't muster the heart to do it (plus I believe the passenger gets a number of "free" subway/bus rides).
If you expand the service based on the criteria you can see the waste. And if you call it out, you're a heartless monster that hates the poor and sick. It's a huge win for politicians seeking favor for certain classes.
And screw the fare jumpers, the MTA is absolutely the "best deal" in NYC. $3 to get you basically wherever you need between Manhattan and the outer boroughs and amazing.
upper K keeps spending on upper K stuff. like stonks.
I guess this must be new, for Houston to be on the net domestic “loser” board - but a couple things come to mind.
I don’t know how to say it prettily so I will just say it plainly: a lot of Houston natives love Houston, they love it warts and all, they are proud of its scrappy hated-on status, much like San Antonio is proud of being “puro”. Or they are old enough to remember or have participated in a time when it was earnestly improving itself … in ways that did bear belated fruit, and they have a bubble social world that is more like a small town. (The bubble is not a true geographic bubble; Houston has no such.)
And Houston has been through some stuff, to say the least, that can have a unifying effect.
My nuclear family all remain in Houston and I have never heard them say a disparaging word about it, nor about the United Nations rainbow of newcomers*, despite the fact that the city used to be all “ours” or at any rate black-and-white ours, and now much of it belongs to others, permanently - no-go in a sense that isn’t even tightly connected with a sense of fear - the fear is for those others to feel or not as various ethnicities rub up against each other and exchange violence; and I think this Panglossian contentment is not uncommon with people who have spent their lives there.
Plus “everybody” has a weekend place somewhere else.
But most people elsewhere know to hate Houston and would need a great job offer to contemplate moving there.
And moreover, to visit Houston now is to feel you have stepped into - not an actual 3rd world bazaar, which may possibly be charming, but a dystopian one.
Even if you think you like that - and I’m sure some do, your Tyler Cowens and Alex Tabarroks would or would for a weekend - for the average American contemplating a domestic move, it may come across as leaving America in some sense.
Kind of like shopping in a TJ Maxx writ large.
This will probably fade as all places come to resemble Houston.
*I was one of those people without TV so that when Anthony Bourdain died, though I had heard the name or seen it on a book, with the Elvis-like grief I eventually googled him to recall who he was, and discovered one of his last appearances on film had been at my high school.
(In whose cafeteria over 4 years I never purchased a single food item other than the margarine-shiny rolls.)
Turns out globalist that he was, and enjoying a little poke in the eye of the elite local food scene, he had selected it precisely because of its supposed crossroad of the world aspect, or at least those parts of the world that have a lot of interesting street food.
Overall mobility has been falling for years, but labor availability and the ages of each cohort's children are the driving factor from my perspective. Young workers are forced to stay where the jobs are or where their existing network is which is most likely to be large, expensive metros.
It's riskier to make a major move to a smaller, lower cost area while hiring is so weak. For Millennial couples (+ maybe young children), finding one job is hard enough, let alone two. Finding a childcare solution is as difficult as finding a job.
Older movers are dominated by retirees but those Gen Xers that are moving have older children that might be in high school or college and therefore don't need to make much consideration to after school care or daycare like younger parents will.
We already know the median age of a repeat homebuyer is 55+. Financial ability and a lack of a job (retirement) means there is a lot more flexibility to move anywhere.
The Access-A-Ride one could be staggering as these are highly subsidized and ADA mandated, so difficult to "attack".
A shuttle can cost up to $100 a passenger (the Uber ones are much cheaper, but still multiples more expensive compared to a bus or subway) compared to the $3 fare.
The city *can* legally charge the Access-A-Ride passenger $6, but the goodness of the politicians and the generosity of the New York City taxpayer just can't muster the heart to do it (plus I believe the passenger gets a number of "free" subway/bus rides).
If you expand the service based on the criteria you can see the waste. And if you call it out, you're a heartless monster that hates the poor and sick. It's a huge win for politicians seeking favor for certain classes.
And screw the fare jumpers, the MTA is absolutely the "best deal" in NYC. $3 to get you basically wherever you need between Manhattan and the outer boroughs and amazing.