Monday, April 17, 2006
Smart Growth Increases Homelessness
"We are seeing more middle-class people and people working two jobs falling into homelessness because wages are not keeping up with rents," said Karol Schulkin, coordinator of Ventura County Homeless Services. HOWEVER, what they fail to mention is that Ventura has a very strict no growth policy, and trying to build a tract of new homes requires voters approval. They can't have it both ways since every housing proposal on the block so far has been rejected by voters. Real estate in ventura county is a solid investment, prices will remain high and homelessness numbers will get higher too.
Comments:
From the article:
>>>>>>The immediate need is more modest rental housing, Schulkin said, which some people are trying to make happen. More safe, entry-level rental units would mean fewer people having to live in their vehicles or having to access storage containers each morning to change before work, she said.<<<<<
This is the solution. Cities are NOT building affordable housing as residents cannot afford motor transport and SINGLE FAMILY HOMES in the burbs are OUT OF THE QUESTION! These families cannot pay rent so how in the world are they going to qualify for a motgage of 300-400 thousand.
From the Article:
>>>>>>"The market today largely is ¿for-sale' homes," she said. "That's not going to help the majority of people in our county who cannot afford these half-million-dollar houses, particularly those that have no savings and are teetering on the brink of falling into homelessness." <<<<<<<
BINGO! It's not Smart Growth that's increasing homesless as single family homes in the burbs and unlimited growth is actually increasing the problem. The poor cannot afford to live in Smart Growth or the Burbs anymore.
In fact, the article does not even mention the word Smart Growth at all. If there is a solution for the homeless, it will have to come from Smart Growth cities as there will never be any new single family home construction for the homeless. Never.
>>>>>>The immediate need is more modest rental housing, Schulkin said, which some people are trying to make happen. More safe, entry-level rental units would mean fewer people having to live in their vehicles or having to access storage containers each morning to change before work, she said.<<<<<
This is the solution. Cities are NOT building affordable housing as residents cannot afford motor transport and SINGLE FAMILY HOMES in the burbs are OUT OF THE QUESTION! These families cannot pay rent so how in the world are they going to qualify for a motgage of 300-400 thousand.
From the Article:
>>>>>>"The market today largely is ¿for-sale' homes," she said. "That's not going to help the majority of people in our county who cannot afford these half-million-dollar houses, particularly those that have no savings and are teetering on the brink of falling into homelessness." <<<<<<<
BINGO! It's not Smart Growth that's increasing homesless as single family homes in the burbs and unlimited growth is actually increasing the problem. The poor cannot afford to live in Smart Growth or the Burbs anymore.
In fact, the article does not even mention the word Smart Growth at all. If there is a solution for the homeless, it will have to come from Smart Growth cities as there will never be any new single family home construction for the homeless. Never.
You don't understand economics. As families move out of crowded, smart growth dense, cities to single family homes in the "Burbs" (where they would rather raise their kids, not tenements) they open up the units they moved out of for those homeless or borderline homeless and eventually drive housing prices down. It is from decades of severely stricting new home building to the social planner approved kind (read: smarth growth) that has created the problem in the first place.
>>>>>You don't understand economics. As families move out of crowded, smart growth dense, cities to single family homes in the "Burbs" (where they would rather raise their kids, not tenements) they open up the units they moved out of for those homeless or borderline homeless and eventually drive housing prices down.<<<<<<
That make me laugh. When families move out of the cities to the burbs, the prices of the housing remains the same or increases keeping it unaffordable. In cities across the nation, prices for apartments are going up not down as slums are being revitalized for the frist time in 50 years. Those new apartments end up becoming luxury apartments, condos and coops.
In fact, there is a GLUT of apartments in the cities across the nation. It's true. There are hundreds (possibly thousands) of luxury apartments, condos and coops in New York City that are vacant but prices are not coming down so you can create all the homes in the burbs but that will not drive down the price of apartments.
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That make me laugh. When families move out of the cities to the burbs, the prices of the housing remains the same or increases keeping it unaffordable. In cities across the nation, prices for apartments are going up not down as slums are being revitalized for the frist time in 50 years. Those new apartments end up becoming luxury apartments, condos and coops.
In fact, there is a GLUT of apartments in the cities across the nation. It's true. There are hundreds (possibly thousands) of luxury apartments, condos and coops in New York City that are vacant but prices are not coming down so you can create all the homes in the burbs but that will not drive down the price of apartments.
