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The city and state have tried developing affordable housing for decades by incentivizing developers, and have failed badly. We are on an escalator that only goes up.
Developers are forced to sell affordable units at near break-even prices, or even at a loss. To cover their costs for return on investment plus any loss, developers add those costs to the market-valued units.
This automatically increases the prices for the entire market in two ways. Eventually the affordable subsidized units can also be sold at the higher market prices, so those previously subsidized units are no longer in the affordable market. And, for today’s current development cycle, new affordable units must have huge discounted prices because market prices are now at ultra-luxury levels.
Let’s get off the escalator, fix the permitting and development delays, and allow prefabricated or manufactured housing that can be constructed for the price of a new car.
Sam Gillie
Hahaione Valley
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