Coastal cities with lots of jobs and opportunities tend to be blue, democratic strongholds, and ironically are strongholds of NIMBYism in terms of housing markets – wealthy owners of traditional single family suburban homes often work to keep out badly needed multiple dwelling apartments and condos.
Result, eye popping real estate prices, which cause potential residents to move elsewhere, often in climate harm’s way.
I wonder how much of the “blue cities aren’t building” is based on the story looking at the older, already most-densely-packed areas in the country, which still face strong demand because their local economies are strong. And there’s lots of housing in other cities and towns with no work. I know in Illinois, the population declines are driven much more by people leaving the state from outside the Chicago area, and in Chicago population has been fairly stable, with losses being driven by any drop in immigration. Chicago always lost retirees or maturing kids getting jobs out West or later in the South as well, and we always regained population from immigrants, or Americans coming for career opportunity like I did.
Consider that prior to broad availability of air conditioning for homes, offices and cars, there was no pressure to overbuild in the South or Southeast – so they retained a lot more open land that is still more easily chopped into lots with garages since they’re building out car-centric.
I grew up in NJ, in the New York metro area and the township I lived in (with ‘only’ about 100,000 people back then) had their land showing as 95% developed by the time I left in the early ’90s.
So yes, single-family zoning everywhere is a problem, but I’m suspecting it’s especially a problem in the older, more established conurbations that had been growing in the Northeast for hundreds of years before anyone would suddenly think, for example, that retiring to Florida was a good thing.
The real risk for where I am now and where I’ll likely move is trees. I love trees, with the birds and the bushy-tailed tree rats, but they don’t love me: They break power lines* or they fall on your house. But I just can’t quit them!
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*My neighborhood was without power for over four days during Texas’ 2021 Deep Freeze, and for over six days due to an ice storm.