Federal funding for affordable housing

[tomh009]

What I proposed was not to lower taxes in an area with affordable housing, but to lower taxes for actual affordable housing units: an inexpensive house or apartment would attract a lower tax rate. This is basically the same concept as progressive income taxation, which is generally accepted.

Yeah, progressive taxation of property would also make sense but is not allowed by legislation...

That's right, property tax rates must be fixed -- within a rate classification. For example, vacant residential land is a different rate than a residential property. I believe the city would be able to create a new classification for an "affordable residential property", or something similar, with a different tax rate. As long as it's not based on just the property value, but a fixed/long-term designation as affordable housing, it should be legally defensible to have a different tax rate.