There was a telling exchange (if you can call it that) on Facebook in the last week or so when Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan proudly announced jobs coming to Seattle.

The Mayor’s Facebook posts are generally either tone deaf or read as if they were written by an algorithm. “We have the best talent anywhere!” Somehow she tries to be a cheerleader for the city as if she was rooting for the Seahawks. I suppose that’s what Mayors do. But then there’s the “Yet..”

Yet we know that as Seattle continues to grow, we must act urgently to address the pressures that follow – from tackling affordability to new affordable housing to increasing transit.

“The pressures that follow.” Durkan, or more accurately the person or program that writes her social media, reflexively adopts the stance that jobs cause problems with affordability. You see, when jobs come prices go up. For people like Durkan, most people really, that means there is a “yet” that happens. Prices go up. There are problems with transit and traffic. Yet.

And this is why Durkan, out of her element in the office, will likely end up walking away from the job at the end of her term. The statement she makes simply has to cancel out the positive statement with a “yet.” But worse, it simply isn’t true. There is no downsides to new jobs unless, and that’s the word she should be using, unless. More new jobs are a really great thing for everyone unless a city has no leadership or coherent strategy to create more housing, then that city will see prices “skyrocket,” and have people who earn less money end up paying more and more of their income for housing.

Then there is another word: until. I use both of these words now. Unless and until. Unless and until. Unless and until we have leadership, job growth will cause problems because supply won’t keep up with demand. That means suffering for people who earn less money.

And oddly, most of the commenters just bash the Mayor, hundreds of them, blaming her for the jobs and the problems and the problems with jobs. Unless and until we have a Mayor that can cheer on job growth and support policies that relieve regulatory burdens and step back from schemes like Mandatory Housing Affordability, we will continue to have problems with housing prices.