City projects take decades to take shape. It's not hopeless, it just takes time and political will. There are people advocating for greater zoning capacity, streamlined permitting processes and investment in mass transit, among other things.
>And those people 'just moved' to NYC after all.
When the rich get priced out of downtown, they don't move to KC. They move to cheaper areas outside of downtown and drive up prices for lower-income people living there. When four young professionals pile into an old single family home because there aren't enough apartments, that drives up prices for families who have one or two sources of income, not four. This affects everyone who lives in a city, not just wealthy transplants. Yuppies are not the ones being displaced. The solution is a steady increased supply of market-rate housing.
> "The solution is a steady increased supply of market-rate housing."
Politically induced zoning density restrictions which benefit landholders over tenants and those who wish to buy housing should be reversed and then allow markets to create more housing. The cost of the high cost of housing is for this reason -- a market failure called "rent seeking." Fix the market inefficiency, -- the market failure -- and everyone but landholders benefit.