Developers Build Offices, Not Housing

When a local tech boom raises rents, developers may prefer building high‑margin offices marketed to wealthy industry tenants rather than new housing, because zoning, permits, and demand for premium commercial space make that the likeliest path to quick returns. That private choice can worsen housing shortages even while politicians issue symbolic emergency declarations. — This dynamic explains a common failure of local responses to tech-driven affordability crises: political signaling without changing the developer incentives that actually determine what gets built.