ProJo: My Turn: Froma Harrop: Prosperity extracts a price

It's the craziest thing. Factory towns that bled both jobs and people still have a fine housing stock, cheap for lack of demand. Booming tech centers, meanwhile, attract battalions of newcomers despite their soaring housing costs and growing congestion.

Can't something be worked out here?

Amazon.com helped set off the red-hot growth in its hometown of Seattle. With the prosperity came a crisis of homelessness and crushing housing prices for those with moderate incomes. This has created strife. Longtime residents who prize their funky old neighborhoods are fighting off newer arrivals (allied with builders) who want them leveled for apartment complexes.

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