I stumbled on this excellent piece "The Zen of Affordable Housing," by Dan Bertolet, a “recovering electrical engineer,” who blogs at Cititank.org. In it, he tries to debunk some myths and expound on what he considers truths of cities, housing and the market. Example:
“The urban density debate is over. An ever-growing mountain
of density research unequivocally demonstrates the benefits associated with
energy, greenhouse gas emissions, water, habitat, farmland, economics, human
health and safety, etc. It’s not
hyperbole to say that in America, our future prosperity will depend heavily on
the densification of our urban areas. Accordingly, high-density housing should
be recognized as a public benefit in itself.”
But his final point is one that, in my observation, is the core of the
problem and gets overlooked by virtually all the interested parties in
the affordability debate. It's all about income. If your income is too low, it's tough to afford a place to live:
“Income inequality is the core reason why housing
affordability is such an intractable problem in the United States. In pretty
much every other industrialized nation on earth, greater redistribution of
wealth helps ease the problem of affordable housing. This includes social
investments that significantly reduce other major household expenses, such as
health care, education, childcare, and transportation, thereby freeing up more
income to pay for housing. Here in the U.S, we will be beating our heads
against the wall forever trying to provide enough affordable housing to make up
for this underlying inequity.”
