Fudge: “Everybody in the country knows we have a crisis of affordable housing. But the only way to get costs down is to assist developers and builders in building more homes. If we don't put more supply on the market the prices are not going to go down. … Help us find ways to deal with our zoning and our restrictions, so we can streamline the process.”
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Questions:
- How does Ms. Fudge define “affordable” housing? Doesn't HUD say that folks making 120% of the AMI could qualify for an “affordable” unit? In DC, an individual making more than $120k/yr could qualify for an “affordable” unit under HUD's definition. Why is this acceptable?
- Is it true that the ONLY way to get costs down is to build MORE housing? What kinds of housing? Housing for whom? How about decommodifying alternatives: Social Housing, CLT's, etc.
- When she says, “If we don’t put more supply on the market, the prices are not going to go down” what parts of the housing market is she talking about – Do we need more single family homes, or more of the steady increase in studios/one bedrooms?
- Her statement about finding “ways to deal with our zoning … restrictions” … Is that a euphemism of ending community input and just allowing “developers and builders” to just keep building whatever they want wherever they want per the status quo without any basic planning protocols in place?
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Contrast the above video, with this Adams Curtis video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAwH7R5ljo8
“This is the normal world. You go to work in a city. All around you are enormous new buildings. They look alike. You will never be able to afford to live in them because they are not really homes. They are blocks of money bought by global investors whose money has nowhere else to go.”
And, consider these points/analysis posts about housing production in DC:
http://www.dc4reality.org/updates/687
• Compare and Contrast: Growth & Displacement
http://www.dc4reality.org/updates/612