We appear too busy fighting over the solution and the process to step back and remind ourselves what the problem is.
For years, we have all believed that the Affordable housing crisis is caused by a lack of housing. However, this assumption has proven false over the past 12+ months. We are currently in the untenable situation of having many homeless folk and having an increasing vacancy rate in our rental housing stock. Rental properties have seen vacancies climb from 2.5% to 6.6% and the predictions are that it will get worst. This dramatic increase in vacancies is forcing the rental industry to offer aggressive incentives to attract residents and (in some cases) a lowering of criteria to fill up vacant units. Can we rightfully argue that government funds should still be allocated to building more housing? Shouldn't we instead be asking why we are unable to fill the existing housing stock with families that need housing? I believe the "affordable Housing crisis" is not an "availability" problem, but rather an "affordable" problem. There are many ways to fill the gap in housing costs and this program appears to be an excellent example of one way. I personally applaud Mr. Graham and his associates for proposing up to date solutions. This solution is all the better because it is targeted at homeownership and not rentals. I encourage all of us to look at other possibilities for filling the housing affordability gap. Some possibilities are: 1.) More programs like the one Mr. Graham is pushing that makes it easier for low income folk to buy existing homes. 2.) Asking why we don't have readily available gap funding for rental housing (ala section 8 and wilder roof programs). 3.) Asking who and how can people live on $7.00/hour? 4.) Asking if homeless folk have enough support to help them overcome addictions and historical behavior problems that keep them out of housing? 5.) Asking if the city of Minneapolis has policies that discourage home ownership for low income folk? Can we keep a lid on property taxes for lower cost housing? Why does the city of Minneapolis have their own licensing division for contractors (Thereby limiting suppliers)? Etc... We readily provide food stamps for those that cannot afford food. We build homes for those that cannot afford homes. Why not readily provide rent/mortgage stamps for those that cannot afford homes and buy more cows for those that cannot afford milk? I hope this post is beneficial to you. Regards, Bill Cullen. I live in Hopkins, but own a business in Uptown. TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
