re: Is the "housing shortage" overblown?

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I don’t live in Louisiana, but this idea of urban decay is the exact opposite of what’s happened in Tennessee. 20 years ago downtown Nashville was basically half of what it is now. Downtown Knoxville was almost dead. Areas like East Nashville were dangerous and North Knoxville had very few businesses. Now both downtowns are busy and growing. East Nashville and North Knoxville are filled with millennial homeowners, breweries, and good restaurants. Cities here aren’t decaying, they are thriving

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Atlanta is the same way. Not downtown but the neighborhoods in W.Midtown and the eastern sections of the city(Grant Park, Kirkwood, East Lake, E.Atlanta, Virginia Highland) have exploded the last 15 years and the city has gentrified to the point that it is no longer majority-minority.

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I don’t live in Louisiana, but this idea of urban decay is the exact opposite of what’s happened in Tennessee. 20 years ago downtown Nashville was basically half of what it is now. Downtown Knoxville was almost dead. Areas like East Nashville were dangerous and North Knoxville had very few businesses. Now both downtowns are busy and growing. East Nashville and North Knoxville are filled with millennial homeowners, breweries, and good restaurants. Cities here aren’t decaying, they are thriving

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Nashville and East TN are the exception, not the norm. Very high population and economic growth in areas that were ready for it. Of course that has still come at a price - the cost of housing has exploded, traffic has gotten terrible and the crappy public school systems still push people into expensive private schools.

Meanwhile over in Memphis 70% of the city is still a no-go warzone and it's a rat race for decent folks to cram into the remaining 30%. At least Memphis has the less densely populated regions of northern Mississippi right across the border to serve as a pressure release for the Middle Class. Most cities don't have that.