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ClarkFable t1_ix89z1s wrote

Reply to comment by AMWJ in City Council Proposing Affordable Housing Upzoning by blackdynomitesnewbag

More city run housing is a bad idea. It’s a inefficient waste of resources. The current AHO plan basically has developers paying for everything, and can create large amounts of affordable housing with mixes of different incomes.

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AMWJ t1_ix8bqxw wrote

I can't imagine what you mean by waste of resources - the developers are "paying for everything" because they can make money off of the housing they build. And not just a small amount - they're jumping through hoops here to get approved under the AHO because this is a lucrative gig, presumably. Why would the city not be able to run housing at least not taking a loss?

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ClarkFable t1_ix8e2im wrote

>Why would the city not be able to run housing at least not taking a loss?

Because it's basically impossible to run truly low income housing at a profit in a city. It also geographically concentrates low incomes in a way that's suboptimal (something the AHO plan tries to avoid). But just so we are clear, when you say "city run", you mean owned/subsidized and operated, right?

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AMWJ t1_ix8p0hw wrote

>Because it's basically impossible to run truly low income housing at a profit in a city.

I didn't say it needed to be low income housing. For-profit companies are coming into this city and jumping through the AHO hoops in order to provide affordable housing, so it's quite evidently profitable.

As for low-income housing, if developers are unable to provide true low-income housing in the city, then of course city-run housing at a loss is not a waste of resources. It gives people homes, which, as you said, were "impossible" for a for-profit to run.

>when you say "city run", you mean owned/subsidized and operated, right?

To be honest, I don't care. Leaving it to for-profit developers seems like a recipe for housing to disappear as soon as it ceases to be profitable, but whether the solution is a public/private partnership, or a city-owned/contractor-managed situation, or a fully city-owned-and-run project, it would ameliorate the situation.

Just look at this current proposal: we passed AHO years ago, but companies decided it wasn't affordable, so we needed active legislation to appease them. So, it's clearly not obvious what policies we need to appease developers, so who says the policies we put in place today will lead to affordable housing for more than a couple years? City-run initiatives ensure longevity, even if it stops being profitable for a time.

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