Your anecdote sounds like much of America; Where subsidized housing is a bandaid on income inequality and stagnated wage growth, in addition to the US's largest

Your anecdote sounds like much of America; Where subsidized housing is a bandaid on income inequality and stagnated wage growth, in addition to the US's largest demographic shift in a century. Your town could seemingly cut out the middleman (the taxpayer) by raising minimum wage (which would either decrease opportunities or increase housing affordability). Ideally, increasing the highest margin progressive property and income taxes also to reduce income inequality and housing prices - while lowering the lower marginal brackets.