This is what bother's me about these arguments

by Jeff (BGS) , A starter home in suburban Tempe, Tuesday, April 15, 2014, 11:29 (3686 days ago) @ Mike (bart)

if you have a choice between a $250K/yr household with 2-3 cars, or a $250K household with 0-1 cars

That is not the choice that is being made, unless there is an unlimited supply of both sets of households. The fact is that there is a high correlation between income and car ownership. If 90% of the $250k households have 2-3 cars, and you make the area less attractive to car owners, you are going to replace the $250k/2car households with $100k/1car households.

That still might be financially the best alternative. A single family home containing a $250k household owning two cars and consuming education resources with kids in the public school can be replaced with 6+ people in apartments making $50k with fewer cars and no kids. Of course, that means less home ownership and a more transient population.