03-19-2024, 11:59 AM
(03-19-2024, 11:09 AM)tomh009 Wrote:(03-19-2024, 10:29 AM)bravado Wrote: Forcing developers to under-price one specific type of housing just means we will get even higher costs passed down to customers OR we will just get less of it.
Forcing a 50 unit apartment to sell a portion for less but allowing a 50 unit detached home subdivision to sell all 50 at full price just means you’re going to get more houses and fewer apartments. Our cities seem to think that developers are somehow not motivated by costs.
At the peak, 5% of the units would need to be affordable. So, let's assume for the affordable units, the rent or selling price will cover only half the costs (in most cases it will cover more than that). Based on that, 95% of the buyers will need to cover 97.5% of the costs. A 2.6% uplift in prices is certainly not massive, and will not price many people out of the market. The affordable units will be available for those struggling with today's housing prices in any case.
I would personally be happy to pay 2.6% more for my next real estate purchase if it enables 5% affordable housing.
That said, they really should apply this type of inclusionary zoning to new lower-density subdivisions as well.
Unclear where you got your numbers from. The policy does not allow for the affordable units to be sold at an affordable rate, and the rental rate does not even come close to covering half the cost of the unit. Including lifecyle ownership, these affordable units are costing over 100% of the cost to build.
Generally, the cost divided by the total number of market units is still digestible. But stack it onto the insane amount of fees (that are always increasing) that new housing is burdened with it is no surprise why we're in this cost crisis. Over 30% of the cost of a new condo is fees.
The conversation should be focused on landowners paying higher property taxes so that the city is not reliant on taxing new housing. It is wildly unequitable, and these policies have clearly been coopted by NIMBYs trying to keep their property values inflated.