Looking ahead: affordable housing
A city of Wenatchee consultant (David Paul Rosen & Associates) is studying the need for affordable housing — and how to meet that need. Rosen is to make its report Thursday. Click here to read Chris Pratt’s advance report on the meeting. There is wide agreement that housing affordability is a problem in the Wenatchee area. Aside from personal experience of people trying to buy a home, the issue is kept before the public by rising home prices of recent years and the the pending eviction of Ninth Street Trailer Park residents to make room for riverfront development. The real estate industry generally would like to see denser development and fewer regulations to cut the cost of housing. Here’s one industry view on the issue and Thursday’s sessions.
What do you think the city of Wenatchee and other governments should do, if anything, to create affordable housing? How should we cover the issue?
1 Comment
I do hope the public actually shows up to this meeting. My preconception is that since this consultant was interviewed by and selected by city plannning, the housing authority, and a housing trust that they will recommend money for the housing authority, housing trust and not have much bad to say about planning. Nobody from the NCW Home Builder’s Association, Master Builders, Builders’ Industry Association of Washington or any of the folks who provide the bulk of housing options through private industry was on the selection committee. Clearly, this is not an “independent” study as it has been claimed.
There are two way to provide affordable housing, subsidize it with taxpayer money, or increase the supply of land that can be developed to allow the market to respond to demand without artificial, government created shortages. A recent study (http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20080214&slug=eicher14) from the UW shows that growth managment laws in our state have driven the price of a home up nearly $200,000. If you take that much out of the price of homes in Wenatchee, they are suddenly pretty affordable. Contrary to some of the other comments on the article, planning does not drive down housing prices. The effect is quite the opposite.
So, it could be an interesting meeting. I suspect the approach will focus on the “subsidize” it solution to affordable housing. That usually provides affordable housing to a few at the highest possible cost to the everyone else. Further, it can cripple the folks who “benefit” by keeping them dependent on the largesse of government instead of finding a way to actually own property and reap the benefits of appreciation in the market. That said, I am open to being pleasantly surprised!