'Affordable Housing'

[HornsHornsHorns]

Why is this a worthwhile policy goal? Why should legislatures intervene in markets to get people into homes they cannot afford on their own?

Nobody would doubt that encouraging home ownership is good policy. But why is encouraging ownership of a home that someone is not qualified to buy a good idea?

 

[Bookman]

I think you're reading too much into it.

 

[Bernard]

Affordable Housing isn't getting people into homes they can't afford. Affording Housing is creating a supply of homes that people actually can afford.

Creation of affordable housing is very worthwhile policy goal. If people can't afford a home, where will they live? Despite what you think about free markets, in many parts of the country free markets do not exist with respect to real estate development. In many parts of the country, develpment is highly controlled by politicians and their real estate owning constituents who do not want affordable housing built near their less-affordable housing becuase they believe it will have a detrimental affect on their own property values.

Americans are a bunch a NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard).

Bernard

 

[RoundRobin]

[Cartman]Poor people tend to live in clusters.[/Cartman]

 

[MilkmanDan]

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[Texas Wahoo]

The lack of "affordable housing" and the need for government to get involved to create it is often a result of zoning rules and other government actions that restrain the use of land in the first place. Places like Houston that don't have zoning tend to have much more affordable housing. If government isn't involved, you tend to not need to get government involved to fix anything.

 

[GHoward]

The thing is that there is always "affordable" housing. It's just probably not in a greatly desirable place. If rent prices get so high in austin that I can no longer afford it, guess what, I might have to move to Manor, or Cedar Park, or (god help me) San Antonio. Yea, its not ideal, but if I really wanted to, I should just make more money, work harder, etc. Either way, I'll deal with it. Some people don't think this way. Some people think "Hey, I was born here, I grew up here, I deserve to stay here, even though I don't own any property, nor make enough money to buy some. I wish the government would pay for half my house."

For instance, all these new condos, and other developments at the old airport all have a certain small percentage of "Affordable housing". Unfortunately the only fair way to decide who gets on is by lottery, so maybe a couple hundred families in this city will get a nice new house for cheap. The developers just raise the price of the other units to cover the costs, as well as probably put lower quality into the lower priced units, and they still make money, the politicians might get a little campaign funds.

 

[GHoward]

Oh yea, when I was looking for an apartment, I asked an agent about a certain place, that was pretty new and looked real nice. She said it was Section 8 housing. She said the income requirements to rent there were lower, but the rent was actually higher than regular places. Even if the government pays part of it, those people are still probably getting screwed.

 

[nath05]

There's a difference between 'affordable housing' and 'Section 8' housing. My metro area governing council defines affordable as a 1 BR apartment that rents for less than $750/mo or a house that's sold for less than 200K. These are market rates, not subsidized by the government. Middle class housing, basically.

 

[HornsHornsHorns]

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[accuratehorn]

Because your maid, chauffer, yard man, and butler would have to commute from Killeen otherwise. Have a heart.