Endless Studies: NIMBY Tactic to Discourage Development

This is how they do it. Affluent towns like New Canaan use endless “studies” to discourage affordable housing development. And they often create “committees” purportedly to produce more affordable housing, but in reality to kill any new proposals.

I’ve even seen cities purposely rezone low-lying and swampy areas for affordable housing, knowing they will never be buildable. That way, they can look good on paper (zoning map) while systematically discriminating against lower income families.

From the piece:

“In a letter to the town, Karp’s attorney Christopher Smith argued the WPCA is trying to prevent more affordable housing from being developed in New Canaan and the delay has nothing to do with global warming.”

A link to the piece is found here

 

A New Approach to Workforce Housing Development

This is the way to do it.

The city has the tools for fast-track approvals and the issuance of bonds. Private companies like mine can bring the technical expertise to design and manage these developments for cities who choose this approach.

From the piece:

“City staff is working on a plan that would have the city build and hold its own workforce housing.”

A link to the piece is found here

Let the Marketplace Work

Read this headline. Think about what it’s saying. It puts the words “affordable” (i.e., inexpensive and plentiful) in the same sentence with “lottery” (i.e., scarce).

Remember when 72-inch flat-screen TVs were a $10,000 luxury? Now we can select from scores of competing brands for a small fraction of that cost.

How did this happen? Was it the result of a lottery? Government regulation? Limits on new flat-screen TV production and ownership?

No. It was the result of competition.

Let the marketplace work. Deregulate the production of housing and let developers like me reach renters and buyers previously unreached.

From the piece:

“The affordable housing lottery has launched for 200 Montague Street, a 20-story residential building in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn. Designed by Beyer Blinder Belle and developed by Aurora Capital Partners, the structure yields 121 residences. Available on NYC Housing Connect are 38 units for residents at 80 to 130 percent of the area median income (AMI), ranging in eligible income from $54,960 to $215,1500.”

Why Affordable Housing Is So Hard to Find in America’s Big Cities

“Vanessa Brown Calder found for the Cato Institute that increased land-use regulation is associated with rising real average home prices in 44 states and that rising zoning regulation is associated with rising real average home prices in 36 states. ‘In general,’ she finds, ‘the states that have increased the amount of rules and restrictions on land use the most have higher housing prices.’ As a result, the $200 billion in federal funds, which was spent on subsidizing, renting, and buying homes in 2015, went to states with more restrictive zoning and land-use rules. ‘Federal aid thus creates a disincentive for the states to solve their own housing affordability problems by reducing regulation,’ Brown Calder finds.”

https://fee.org/articles/why-affordable-housing-is-so-hard-to-find-in-america-s-big-cities/

We Need More Housing, Not More Rent Control

“Like rent control, these questions of housing prices boil down to the basics. When the supply of housing stock is artificially restricted thanks to legislation, we inevitably get more expensive housing. However, it is not sufficient to say ‘let the market handle it’ when trying to offer an alternative policy to rent control.

There’s plenty of government intervention that impedes market mechanisms from providing affordable housing. Instead, we must point to specific policies, such as zoning rules, that make it more difficult to build housing. These regulations are the main culprits behind these rising housing prices. To win this debate, free market proponents must offer the solution of land-use liberalization, which entails repealing these measures.”

https://mises.org/wire/we-need-more-housing-not-more-rent-control

Photo Credit: Mises Institute