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That's right. "Affordable" by itself doesn't say anything about who can afford it. If we were talking about affordable for the middle class, we'd call it "Affor

by beaner 9y ago

That's right. "Affordable" by itself doesn't say anything about who can afford it. If we were talking about affordable for the middle class, we'd call it "Affordable for the middle class." This is why the term is a misnomer. All housing is affordable, but the term is being used to describe something other than affordability (subsidization).

1_2__4 9y ago
You’re being so pedantic as to be completely wrong. Affordable does not mean that at least one person on the planet could theoretically purchase it.
- deleted 9y ago
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- CobrastanJorji 9y ago
  You're arguing different things. You're using a plain English version of the definition of "affordable," beaner is trying to describe the real estate term of art "affordable housing." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordable_housing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordable_housing
- beaner 9y ago
  I don't think there's anything pedantic about it. The term "affordable housing" implies that housing which isn't subsidized isn't affordable. But the vast majority of housing is bought, sold, and owned by regular people without subsidizing. The term is not accurate at all. The fraction of housing that is only available to a number of people in the single digits is so small as to not be worth considering. "All but 0.0001% of housing is affordable" would be pedantic; "all housing is affordable" is not.
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > I don't think there's anything pedantic about it. The term "affordable housing" implies that housing which isn't subsidized isn't affordable. No, it doesn't, because “affordable” doesn't mean “subsidized”, it means the purchase or rental cost is (and, usually when it comes to rental-committed units in a development plan, is guaranteed by contract or some other binding arrangement to remain) within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s income-based affordability guidelines for a specified income level; in the case of the plan under discussion, that income level being 50% of the Areawide Median Income for Santa Clara County.
- averagewall 9y ago
  It's like "accessibility". Several times (long ago) I've mistaken that for meaning "easy to access" and been disappointed to find it was useless. I still don't know what a "walkable neighborhood" is. Can't you walk just as easily in any neighborhood? When I read this article, I wasn't sure if affordable meant restricted to poor people, subsidized, or small (cheap) houses. I only learnt the answer from this thread. These words are only useful to the groups who already use them and impede understanding to outsiders.
- deleted 9y ago
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test6554 9y ago
This guy understands market principles.
- deleted 9y ago
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ribosometronome 9y ago
af·ford·a·ble əˈfôrdəb(ə)l adjective inexpensive; reasonably priced. Very little Bay Area housing meets this criteria.
dragonwriter 9y ago
The term as actually used in, e.g., the an at issue is not a misnomer, it's a well-defined and precise technical term, with all the relevant qualifiers attached. The media accounts drop the reference to the income-based affordability formula from HUD and the income level in the plan to which the formula is applied, but that isn't a problem with the term, it's a problem, if anything, with the media accounts.

by beaner 9y ago

1_2__4 9y ago

You’re being so pedantic as to be completely wrong. Affordable does not mean that at least one person on the planet could theoretically purchase it.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
CobrastanJorji 9y ago
You're arguing different things. You're using a plain English version of the definition of "affordable," beaner is trying to describe the real estate term of art "affordable housing." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordable_housing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordable_housing
beaner 9y ago
I don't think there's anything pedantic about it. The term "affordable housing" implies that housing which isn't subsidized isn't affordable. But the vast majority of housing is bought, sold, and owned by regular people without subsidizing. The term is not accurate at all. The fraction of housing that is only available to a number of people in the single digits is so small as to not be worth considering. "All but 0.0001% of housing is affordable" would be pedantic; "all housing is affordable" is not.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > I don't think there's anything pedantic about it. The term "affordable housing" implies that housing which isn't subsidized isn't affordable. No, it doesn't, because “affordable” doesn't mean “subsidized”, it means the purchase or rental cost is (and, usually when it comes to rental-committed units in a development plan, is guaranteed by contract or some other binding arrangement to remain) within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s income-based affordability guidelines for a specified income level; in the case of the plan under discussion, that income level being 50% of the Areawide Median Income for Santa Clara County.
averagewall 9y ago
It's like "accessibility". Several times (long ago) I've mistaken that for meaning "easy to access" and been disappointed to find it was useless. I still don't know what a "walkable neighborhood" is. Can't you walk just as easily in any neighborhood? When I read this article, I wasn't sure if affordable meant restricted to poor people, subsidized, or small (cheap) houses. I only learnt the answer from this thread. These words are only useful to the groups who already use them and impede understanding to outsiders.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

test6554 9y ago

This guy understands market principles.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

ribosometronome 9y ago

af·ford·a·ble əˈfôrdəb(ə)l adjective inexpensive; reasonably priced. Very little Bay Area housing meets this criteria.

dragonwriter 9y ago

The term as actually used in, e.g., the an at issue is not a misnomer, it's a well-defined and precise technical term, with all the relevant qualifiers attached. The media accounts drop the reference to the income-based affordability formula from HUD and the income level in the plan to which the formula is applied, but that isn't a problem with the term, it's a problem, if anything, with the media accounts.