lockmat Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 (edited) I would venture to say that most of us on here are not poor. We're not homeless.This report from NBC Nightly News really opened my eyes. I don't know the education level of the people interviewed, but it seems as if at least some of these people are hard workers and are only homeless because there isn't enough affordable housing.I'd like to start a discussion on affordable housing, taking our focus away for a little bit, onto things that we wouldn't normally need to worry about ourselves. But they're part of communities as well and just because they don't have power and money, their interests should not be neglected.When we talk about development we'd like to see, it often seems like they are left out of discussions. Understandably because we're not them and don't have the same needs, and development for them doesn't help showcase us as a "world class city" or bring fancy skyline buildings.But I just wanted to know thoughts that some of you may have. Is Houston doing a good job providing affordable housing for them? Do the city's plans include or exclude them? What kind of incentives can the government give to get developers to build these for them? Do developers shy away from these projects because of low profit possibilities? etc... Edited January 27, 2007 by lockmat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VicMan Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Remember the Corinthian Pointe development?Why don't we create affordable housing in undeveloped portions of the city of Houston? Of course, make sure they are out of severe flood plains, and test the land for any chemicals before beginning development. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Original Timmy Chan's Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Last I heard (a few months ago), the official "Affordable Housing" limit set by the City of Houston was around $145,000.In other words, a house priced at $144,900 is "affordable housing", according to the City of Houston. I don't know about you, but I make a good living, and $145,000 is a big chunk of change. I could afford more, but I also like to have $$$ left over after my mortgage payment clears the bank with which to ENJOY MY LIFE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 But I just wanted to know thoughts that some of you may have. Is Houston doing a good job providing affordable housing for them? Do the city's plans include or exclude them? What kind of incentives can the government give to get developers to build these for them? Do developers shy away from these projects because of low profit possibilities? etc...Houston has lost so much money with respect to affordable housing that it is embarassing. When money is offered by the govt and lost because of inactivity by the city, that is not acceptable. The govt offers more incentives to the city than the average joe. "projects" such as these aren't low profit because the govt pays more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 But I just wanted to know thoughts that some of you may have. Is Houston doing a good job providing affordable housing for them? Do the city's plans include or exclude them? What kind of incentives can the government give to get developers to build these for them? Do developers shy away from these projects because of low profit possibilities? etc...The best thing that Houston has done to ensure a supply of affordable housing is to not force draconian regulations upon developers and to leverage our availability of land by increasing regional mobility (i.e. freeways, HOV, toll roads, etc.).Having fewer regulations reduces the cost of doing business in two ways: 1) having less red tape cuts down on administrative costs for all categories of housing, and 2) a lot of regulations have the effect of banning the construction of housing that is below a certain price point, which reduces the amount of housing that is constructed in any given year, and prevents that housing from depreciating even as new affordable housing is built to replace it. There is a misconception that slums need to be eliminated, but if they're done away with, then where do the po' people live? The answer: they pay a higher price for housing of higher quality for lack of an option...but maybe they have a different set of priorities, and forcing higher quality housing upon them results in less of something else, whether it be healthcare, nutrition, or education.Regional mobility is also important because the suburbs are actually po' peoples' salvation. Suburbs displace incredible numbers of affluent people from the inner city, thus keeping well-located housing with good transit access affordable to the poor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northbeaumont Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 Last I heard (a few months ago), the official "Affordable Housing" limit set by the City of Houston was around $145,000.In other words, a house priced at $144,900 is "affordable housing", according to the City of Houston. I don't know about you, but I make a good living, and $145,000 is a big chunk of change. I could afford more, but I also like to have $$$ left over after my mortgage payment clears the bank with which to ENJOY MY LIFE.Affordable housing? This topic needs to be merged with the Oxymorons topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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