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It's a lot more complicated than that and I'm really not interested in hearing more schemes to provide "homes for the homeless." All such schemes boil down "I h

It's a lot more complicated than that and I'm really not interested in hearing more schemes to provide "homes for the homeless." All such schemes boil down "I have some idea for housing people that sounds like it might interest people currently sleeping in a dumpster." The thing about homelessness is that the minute you have a home, you are no longer homeless. This is not a separate population that needs some weird sub par answer that damn few people would genuinely desire as a housing solution. Homeless people are just people currently without housing. That's it. That's all it is. We need more housing for ordinary, not wealthy people. Housing with dignity but that dignity needs to stop being defined by people who think "If it's not a mansion, I ain't living in it!" We used to build small homes. Normal, market rate small homes. We mostly don't anymore. Financing mechanisms and tax incentives are part of the morass of housing policies creating the current mess, not just zoning codes. Though we have largely zoned out of existence the ability to build Missing Middle Housing, etc.

BackBlast 5y ago
How do small homes improve the affordability gap when a one bedroom apartment is too much? Financing mechanisms and tax incentives, neither of these prevent creative solutions to problems. Zoning laws do. They dictate all aspects of land use.
- DoreenMichele 5y ago
  Missing Middle Housing is essential for creating mixed use, walkable neighborhoods. We need to resume building neighborhoods of that sort so cars are genuinely optional. Housing is the single biggest budget item for most people followed by transportation because car ownership is nigh unavoidable for most Americans. Even if rent doesn't actually drop, if you can live without a car and still get to work, suddenly some things make sense. We no longer build functioning small towns and neighborhoods. We expect everyone to drive everywhere. Financing is part of the problem because the easiest thing to finance is single family detached housing thanks to precedents set shortly after WW2 which have strongly shaped housing expectations and policies for decades. Tax incentives, like breaks on interest, tend to encourage "housing inflation" where those who can afford a house at all buy a bigger house because it's no more expensive than a smaller house. It doesn't benefit most people looking for cheap housing. It just encourages Americans to build larger homes. Zoning laws are absolutely part of the problem. I completely agree with that point. But New Urbanism has tried to get around that and one of their major sticking points is difficulty in financing projects.

BackBlast 5y ago

How do small homes improve the affordability gap when a one bedroom apartment is too much? Financing mechanisms and tax incentives, neither of these prevent creative solutions to problems. Zoning laws do. They dictate all aspects of land use.

DoreenMichele 5y ago
Missing Middle Housing is essential for creating mixed use, walkable neighborhoods. We need to resume building neighborhoods of that sort so cars are genuinely optional. Housing is the single biggest budget item for most people followed by transportation because car ownership is nigh unavoidable for most Americans. Even if rent doesn't actually drop, if you can live without a car and still get to work, suddenly some things make sense. We no longer build functioning small towns and neighborhoods. We expect everyone to drive everywhere. Financing is part of the problem because the easiest thing to finance is single family detached housing thanks to precedents set shortly after WW2 which have strongly shaped housing expectations and policies for decades. Tax incentives, like breaks on interest, tend to encourage "housing inflation" where those who can afford a house at all buy a bigger house because it's no more expensive than a smaller house. It doesn't benefit most people looking for cheap housing. It just encourages Americans to build larger homes. Zoning laws are absolutely part of the problem. I completely agree with that point. But New Urbanism has tried to get around that and one of their major sticking points is difficulty in financing projects.