Small A vs Capital A affordable housing
We need them both.
Let's talk about two different types of affordable housing today, kids. The first one is called "Small A" affordable housing. It comes courtesy of capitalism.
Austin has been doing much better on this front in the last couple years. Rents here have dropped by 15% from their Aug. '22 peak. This happens to correspond with a glut of multifamily housing that hit the market over the past two years.
people really try to make housing policy more complicated than it needs to be, when the crux is actually quite simple:
— sam (@sam_d_1995) November 24, 2024
if you make it easier to build more housing (through financing, zoning, building codes, etc.), more homes will be built and rents will go down pic.twitter.com/PghLuScl9Q
I haven't really heard anybody from Austin's anti-development crowd address this. But based on past experience, I would expect them to say two things that sound very similar but are in fact very different.
"This new housing is not affordable to those who are in the greatest need."
True! There are always those who will not be served by the market, which is why we need much more subsidized housing for those on the bottom rungs of the income ladder.
"All of this new housing may bring prices down a little for the affluent and middle class, but does nothing for low-income people. In fact, it probably hurts them."
