This woman is proud of depriving potentially 37,000 people from having a place to call home.
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not trying to be a jerk hereā¦solution, or kinda solution - city intervention? or is this where the guy at city council who constantly says to start to develop downtown parking lots (partial market solution?) is more correct. or just a broader development strategy that makes life farther from the center, slightly more like the center?
Iām sure this has been discussed many times in the past but can someone explain to me what constitutes āaffordable housingā? Is it under a certain dollar amount or under a percentage of the market value, etc?
Itās complicated. But rather than type a bunch of words hereās some info from City of Raleigh:
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Wake County is looking to partner with nonprofit Step Up who use āa unique model of creating more housing through the conversion of blighted motels, under-utilized office buildings, or malls into permanent supportive housing.ā
Column: Wake County has an innovative solution to affordable housing crisis - The Daily Tar Heel
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The City of Raleigh works with StepUp on job training.
We need a whole lot of this. Tons of big box stores could be retrofitted to at least some housing. Obviously there are challenges with plumbing/egress/daylighting the interior of the building, but those structures are going to be fallow for years to come
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ātake care of the homeless issueā is not so inconspicuous code for ākick them outā.
Often I wonder when cities will start bending their own rules to create opportunities for very poor people to help themselves if they are inclined. LIke allowing semi-permanent structures (yurts, off grid shacks, trailers) on city property and providing semi-permanent sanitation services to help people get off the streets.
Some educational content for those who are inclined:
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I think the vast majority of us can say āLetās hope this NEVER happensā
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Unfortunately, I donāt think anyone other than Jerome Powell can prevent it, and right now fiscal policy is pretty dead set on destroying the middle class. Homelessness is only going to get worse.
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Middle class (median family) inflation adjusted net worth is up 37% since 2019 mostly due to fiscal policy. Median real incomes also up.
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Middle class definition needs to be updated IMO 
Itās a very turbulent time, data wise, but I have a hard time ignoring the inflation weāve seen in rents, housing, and mortgages, alongside some of the recent layoffs (Iāve personally known 4 high skill workers whoāve been laid off in the last 6 months, one of which is still unemployed as a skilled javascript/react developer).
To keep this on topic, I personally believe the recent homelessness increase weāve seen DTR is just the beginning. Considering that housing is currently the most expensive itās been in modern times per median household income, thereās good reason to believe that those who were on the verge of losing shelter pre-'22 were thrust into homelessness in 2023. This would be via rent increases / lease renewals, but also increased foreclosures, which are only going to increase from here in a historically high mortgage rate environment.
Iām not trying to paint a doom and gloom picture for the housing market (people are still moving here from Cali/NYC/Jersey with stoopid money for your home if youāre selling), but rather explain why I believe homeless population is due to increase. The city would be smart to get ahead of it rather than be reactive to it. Hence, my previous post about temporary (cheap) shelters/facilities.
Regarding crime, winter is coming, and they have heat in jailā¦
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Layoffs are at historic lows. Debt to income ratios also at historic lows.
But I directionally agree with you on the housing affordability and availability concerns. I just wouldnāt attribute those to our fiscal policy and more a product of state and local regulations.
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A housing bubble is a fiscal policy symptom, and weāre in one.
With the way loans were going in 2021 - early '23, there are definitely some folks with negative equity out there right now. Will be interesting to see how it plays out in '24.
Also, can you show your work on the point about layoffs?
Here is data on layoffs ā Layoffs and Discharges: Total Nonfarm (JTSLDL) | FRED | St. Louis Fed
The ābubbleā would be from a lot of factors from demographic, regulatory, preferences (WFH), and monetary policy. Housing prices have been pretty flat for last 12 months so while there was a run up in prices that has not continued. Certainly will be people who bought high but we have not seen a crash in prices or accelerating foreclosures. Also worth pointing out the people most likely to have bought high would also be most likely to have a low fixed interest rate mortgage and largest debt burden so they would be benefitting from inflation by repaying their debt with devalued dollars.
All that to say things can and will change and given this exact moment in time is historically VERY good economically more likely than not that the near-to-medium term will be worse on net for most people.
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Thank you for your perspective on this. We are extremely lucky to have fixed rate mortgages. I recently learned that Canada is in much worse position due to their mortgage policies, and as many as 1/3 of Canadian mortgages are variable rate. Thereās good reason to believe that if there is going to be a housing value collapse / foreclosure wave, it will start in Canada.
Itās been a good discourse.
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In the UK, I think that there is no such thing as a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. Correct me if Iām wrong, but I think that your rate on a mortgage is only fixed for 5 year increments.
I was going to post a new topic on affordable housing when I came across this post, so I will ask you guys this question.
Should the state put into Law a price cap on how much money you have to earn to afford a home or apartment, or better yet, should there be restrictions based on income to afford a home or rent a apartment in the Triangle area ? If that makes any sense. Let face it, the price of a one bedroom apartment in Raleigh is about $1,300 dollars a month. Unless you earn $60,000 70, 80,000 a year fine, but what if you earn less than that, $30 to 40,000 a year and you are Single person. Because it doesnāt look like the rent prices are going down any time soon.