“Economists from both the left and the right have a well-established aversion to rent control, arguing that such policies ignore the message of rising prices, which is to build more housing. Studies in San Francisco and elsewhere show that price caps often prompt landlords to abandon the rental business by converting their units to owner-occupied homes. “
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/business/economy/california-rent-control.html
In this episode, we discuss the challenges that administrative assistants and single parents have in finding workforce housing. In our news segment, we describe an innovative training incentive program for workforce housing renters.
Police officers are yet another profession that earn too much to live in affordable housing and too little to live in newer market rate apartments.
According to glassdoor.com, the average Charlotte-area police salary currently stands at $44,540. This is 53% of the Charlotte-area median family income of $83,500. Assuming a rent qualification ratio of 30%, the average police officer can afford $1,113/month in rent. This is 25% below the typical rent for newer multifamily properties in the Charlotte area, forcing many police officers to move into older, less-desirable housing.
https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/charlotte-police-salary-SRCH_IL.0,9_IM162_KO10,16.htm
This episode we discuss why police officers often have to live in older housing and sometimes face a long daily commute. We also address the growing popularity of the YIMBY movement.
“The YIMBY Act, which was championed by Representatives Denny Heck (D-Wash.) and Trey Hollingsworth (R-Ind.), would use Community Development Block Grant Consolidated Plans to support modernizing outdated codes that hinder housing and undermine sound local plans. The senate version of the legislation (S. 1919) was introduced last year by Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).”
https://dennyheck.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/yes-in-my-backyard-act-passes-house-by-voice-vote
https://www.planning.org/home/action/nimby/
In this episode we discuss the challenges firefighters face when looking for housing. We also discuss how rent control is not the solution to affordability.
“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/
In this episode we discuss the challenges facing teachers in finding housing near their place of work. We also discuss strategies for working with local municipalities to create new housing for this market segment.
“According to the National Education Association, teacher salaries from the 2018-19 school year are down 4.5 percent compared to salaries from the 2009-10 school year, when adjusting for inflating. Over that same time period, the Case-Shiller National Home Price Index has risen by 43.1 percent.
This means many teachers have been forced to leave their school communities—particularly in high-cost metro areas like San Francisco and New York City—or to leave the profession altogether. ”
https://www.curbed.com/2019/5/7/18535284/affordable-housing-teachers-landed-village
In this episode we look at how veterans factor into the workforce housing market and how workforce housing renters are often forced to live in lower quality housing.