The reason for high cost of living in cities was that's where the offices were...

Now we don't need offices. So convert them to apartments to lower housing costs in the short term, and telework means people won't move to cities as much in the long term.

This is actually a good idea...

But the White House initiative will make more than $35 billion available from existing federal programs in the form of grants and low-interest loans to encourage developers to convert offices into residential.

Developers will do this anyway if the offices are empty, why not use that money for a government program to guarantee down payments of first time home buyers?

The developers are doing fine, it's the average American that's struggling, stop funneling money to the people who already have a shit ton of it, trickle down doesn't fucking work

mixed offices and apartments in the same building sounds good... would cut the commute

I think that at least one should be saved for just paintball.

Yes please. Let's give corporations a reason to convert their office buildings into apartments so we can all go back to WFH. Plus, the more housing we have in the city the cheaper it gets.

I'm hopeful that a lot of these will turn into condos so people can get into ownership instead of renting.

All high rise office buildings should be incentivized to have residential space. Let’s try and fix the housing issues and reduce cars/traffic at the same time.

I like how this is finally acknowledging WFH as something that is here to stay but I'm not sure I understand the connection with the housing crisis. From the article:

New York's famous Flatiron Building will soon be converted from empty offices into luxury residences

Luxury apartments in premium locations is the first thing I would think of too if I were a developer, but their target buyers don't sound like the sort of people who currently suffer from the housing crisis. But maybe I'm wrong and there will also be developers converting less prestigious office space into affordable housing...

The other thing I don't get is this: I don't know Manhattan but I did work in some (I assume) similar business hubs in the middle of overpriced cities and I wonder: are many people going to want to live in expensive converted office spaces if they don't work near there any longer? I mean if they were given the chance to WFH from anywhere would they still choose Manhattan? Honest question and maybe the answer is yes, because of the restaurants, culture, good schools or whatever... I would personally make different life choices if I could work completely remote, though.

There are sometimes some strange issues with office construction.

There might be no plumbing in the locations people will want for toilets and baths and kitchens in the individual suites away from the core of the building. Same goes for retrofitted laundry facilities.

HVAC systems (in the US anyways) are often centrallized and might need a lot of retrofitting to make it work like a condo/apartment.

Kitchen ventilation

Windows might not open, can't get to a fresh air source

Aside from that stuff, the issue of empty office buildings while we are experiencing unsustainable housing markets is begging for a solution to address the demand.

There will probably be a handy sum to be earned for construction companies who get efficient at conversions.

Offices are actually chill if you take out the cubicles and stuff. They are spacious, neutral, and have a bathroom and roof access.

There are 16,000,000 empty homes and 500,000 homeless. Office buildings aren't going to be solving any real problem other than the people who own the building being shit out of luck

Can we finally get mixed zoning??

Fuck yes. As a libertarian it bothers me that I can’t make my home in any space I can own.

I understand not building rendering plants next to houses. Some zoning is okay. But there is zero reason why I shouldn’t be able to run a 7-Eleven and sleep on a cot in the back if I so choose.

And I want politicians to start living in trailer parks, projects, and section 8 housing in the parts of town that their policies are destroying.

How about instead of giving money to private companies in the hopes that they build housing you give that money to people so they can afford to live in all the housing that already exists.

Why do libs always make this shit more complicated than it needs to be

This is another proof that office buildings are an anachronism.

Biden wants to give money to wealthy landlords so they can build luxury apartments using our tax dollars, so they can rent them out and increase their wealth.

Think of the real estate investors! /s

A million Grenfell Towers, coming right up

I like Biden. Giving taxpayer money to developers is another thing, but I'm happy to hear that the US govt is off the RTO madness train, at least in this particular situation. There were those articles about Biden wanting federal workers to return though...

It all sounds good, but im so jaded now all i can think about is how will the rich find a way to make sure this doesnt lower cost of living for the lower class.

If utilized as it should be, this Is a really good idea. It creates desperately needed housing, indirectly supports work from home, rescues downtowns struggling from customer loss, helps prevent default on tons of property loans (and preventing something akin to the 2008 crash).