Dear Editor
It's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to educate
the city council on housing issues.
The Inclusionary Housing Ordinance goes to the City Council May 6th, and
boy is it a dilly.
When the city increases the cost of new housing through its shenanigans it
increases the price of all housing (after a lag time) pricing ten times more
people out of the affordable market than it helps. What else explains once
affordable 80 year-old homes in North Park, originally costing less than
$10,000, now selling for $400,000?
There's something inherently wrong with an ordinance that stipulates more than
75% of the people are unable to afford a median priced home and they are
entitled to subsidies -- by City Council decree. Think about it, an incredible
3/4 of the population will be eligible under this ordinance. Its purpose: to
compel homebuilders to construct and sell brand new homes to
people-in-need at below cost. This is Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatters
are in charge.
The only solution to a housing shortage is more housing. Mayor Murphy
should write this on the council chambers' blackboard 100 times. Having
middle-income homebuyers subsidize other middle-income buyers is no answer.
Favoring renters over condominium conversion buyers doesn't add more housing.
The city's gift of
$75,000, 25-year interest free mortgages is ridiculous. This ordinance is a
bureaucrat's Empire of the Sun, a
builder's Nightmare on Elm Street, and a Philadelphia lawyer's Heaven's Gate.
The city currently builds or funds new non-profit rental units that cost more
than 99% of the privately built for-profit units. Why? This obviously is
counter-productive. Nearly everyone reading this, when he or she moved from
their parents' home or graduated from college, did not move into a new apartment
or home. Why suddenly, is 75% of the population entitled to a brand new place?
A University of Michigan survey showed that when 1,000 new homes (unsubsidized)
are built, 1254 low and moderate income household move up to better housing in a
chain of moves. This is how the housing market works when not hog-tied by
politicians.
Sincerely,
Fred
Fred
Schnaubelt
2728 Adams Avenue
San Diego, California 92116
(619) 280-2082
