The bunkers are bunk
The bobbleheads in Oregon and Portland-area government will never stop telling you that all of our problems are because we don't have enough crappy apartments. Your tax dollars are being burned on an enormous scale to subsidize "affordable housing" all the day long. But funny thing, with all that pork being laid out, our problems are getting worse.
Whoever it is that writes the blog FidelityPDX has had a blistering piece posted for a while now about how what the politicians and bureaucrats are doing is completely counterproductive.
As paradoxical as it sounds, the way you “create” affordable housing is through the construction of middle-class and upper-class homes – this creates velocity in the housing market, especially by convincing middle-class and upper-class people to move out of their existing homes so that people with less economic power can buy their older home.
Of course, Oregon and Portland broke this system, and now it’s just shattered to pieces.
If you can stand a barrage of F-bombs, and you've got some extended screen time on your hands, it makes for some pretty interesting reading. It's here.
Yeah, it's pretty funny hearing the "housing advocates":
ReplyDelete"We need housing!
No, no, not that kind of housing!"
Also, remember that the DSA half of the city council is going to try to completely wreck the rental market in Portland.
In DSA's words:
"We can't just build units with no price controls. We need rent control, eviction protections, and universal housing."
The big scam is that they only set aside a small percentage of units as "affordable". And there is an expiration to the agreement, like 5-10 years. So the developer gets public subsidy to build crappy wedges and then gets to shove them out later and increase the price. Win, Win. Us? Lose Lose.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that is correct. There are longer term agreements buildings that are exclusively affordable housing.
DeleteJust need some more urban renewal districts. Happier and happier to be in the deep burbs outside Metro even though my chances of a fast fiber interent connection are slight and there's no store to walk to.
ReplyDeleteNo, Portland wants to tear down your cute single family home, and build 2 - 6 bunker-like infill houses. I can't wait for the entire infrastructure - think water, sewer, electric - to implode. Watch the billion dollar costs then. But don't worry about streets and parking. You WILL give up your car, so as the roads continue to deteriorate, your mountain bike should suffice.
ReplyDeleteBe sure to get a bike with really big fat tires, you'll need the cushioning for potholes, puddles and the junk left behind by the "homeless" citizens.
DeleteTotally irrelevant but this made me think of a TV show from 1979 starring McLean Stevenson as a single father raising his daughter in Portland Oregon and they lived in a high rise apartment building which at the time I thought was weird for Portland. Show was called 'Hello Larry' and it ran for only one season.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with this argument is that cities producing lots of higher-end housing are having the same issue.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.npr.org/2024/09/25/nx-s1-5119788/nevada-housing
https://www.denverpost.com/2024/03/10/affordable-housing-zoning-code-fix-front-range/
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/dallas-county/housing-increasingly-unaffordable-dallas-city-funded-study/287-ba21669c-7aa7-4226-9e86-6430b52bc59c
The fact that other cities are having housing shortages doesn't negate the criticisms of Portland's problems. That is a false narrative, and each city has slightly different issues. In reality, all cities are having a shortage that began in the housing finance crisis of 2006-09, and supply has not kept up with demand since that time - and lack of supply to meet demand still pushes up prices - economics 101. New household formation remains strong, meaning demand continues. Added to that, baby boomers did not sell or move out, partly due to the high cost of newer, smaller houses. And construction lending needed more assistance, following the failure of so many secondary market bond funds (investors didn't buy the mortgages like pre2008). So supply of new homes remains weak.
ReplyDeleteThe problems are many and systemic. But in Oregon they are definitely made worse by lack of cheap land supply (and the fact that publicly financed housing competes for the same land, pushing up prices); long permitting times; increased lumber, pipe, concrete and other costs; labor costs increasing; the requirements that new development pay for itself (through SDCs, that are paid before the home sells, so must be financed), and the property tax system that undercharges older homes keeping seniors from moving out. There are other problems too, but solving one or two of them will not quickly increase the supply and thereby stabilize prices.
Don't expect our political leaders to understand the complexities. They don't. So smile and enjoy the ride.
https://www.housingtrap.org/
ReplyDeleteA reader writes: "My apartment is so small, I have to go outside to change my mind."
ReplyDelete