This legislation should've been passed years ago if it weren't for Rs, it may have a chance now: New Leg. Proposes to Take WS Out of the Housing Mkt.
The bill would ban hedge funds from buying & owning single-family homes in the US. If signed into law -could potentially increase the supply of homes available for individual buyers -would require hedge funds to sell off all the single-family homes -over a 10-yr period, & eventually prohibit such cos.-.
Ah, supply and demand! One of the most important questions about #affordablehousing is this: Does building more apartments make rents more affordable? Or does new housing just push up rents for those nearby (i.e. cause gentrification)? A team at NYU looked at all the major studies that have been done of new housing’s impact on rents and found … yes, additional #housing makes rents more affordable … even for those living nearby. https://commonwealthbeacon.org/housing/study-says-boosting-housing-production-tempers-rents/
I just went to set up #TekSavvy for my new apartment and apparently the #FiberOptic line going into the building is blocked for #IndepententServiceProviders. I've been with TekSavvy for probably close to 20 years (National Capital Freenet before that).
Especially ridiculous that they can do this going into an #AffordableHousing building and charge tenants whatever ridiculous inflated rates they want.
In case you missed the news: There are public forums being held to discuss #Toronto#budget priorities for 2024. The first event happened today at Scarborough Civic Centre. In addition to 3 virtual meetings, more in person panels will be held at the Etobicoke Olympium, Toronto Reference Library, North York Memorial Hall, and Rexdale Hub.
There is also an online questionnaire.
Make sure to get your voice heard and support funding #AffordableHousing.
“On the low end, we are spending roughly $13,639,500,600 making homeless people uncomfortable. Imagine the headway we could make if we spent that same amount of money making homeless people not homeless. Would homelessness even exist if that were the case?”
"The Biden administration on Friday announced federal financing & other incentives designed to convert high-vacancy commercial buildings in downtown spaces around the country into residential use in an attempt to increase housing supply.
Administration officials said office space vacancies have hit a 30-year high, while housing costs remain high for millions of Americans & there is a shortage of affordable housing units."
The Sen̓áḵw development sounds amazing, and because of my recent obsession I've looked a little more into the parking situation. It's "being designed as a car-lite minimal parking development with roughly 600 vehicle parking stalls for 6,000 residents, with an emphasis on transit and active transportation including a transit hub, new bus stops and thousands of secured bike parking spaces." https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/senakw-kits-point/widgets/144177/faqs#AffordableHousing#Indigenous#Parking
Great reporting by the @coloradosun on how Glenwood Springs mobile home park residents bought the park themselves, rather than letting it fall into the hands of a corporation with a reputation of being a shitty landlord.
Proof on my street this morning that BC’s new law around #ShortTermRentals is having an immediate, positive, impact on providing housing!
This house sold in the Spring. A young couple from Victoria bought it. Almost immediately, there were BnB guests every weekend continuing through the summer and into fall. Then the new legislation came in.
Today, a family is moving in for what the owners said was a year-long rental until the owners move here. #bcpoli#housingCrisis#AffordableHousing#airbnb
#Homelessness is⬆️in the US. The govt should be increasing incentives to build affordable housing- unlikely: private sector will build the necessary housing w/o the govt's help:
A record number of Americans can't afford their rent. Lawmakers are scrambling to help.
Millions, esp. POC: facing same painful decisions as a record number struggle with unaffordable rent increases -fueled by rising prices from inflation, a shortage of affordable housing &: end of Covid relief.
We need immigrant labor to help build #affordablehousing. Training programs could start now (if we had an immigration bill that'd pass Congress).
The end of Nov there were about 459,000 job openings in the IDU. The 5.4% job opening rate was the highest since 2000.
Over 2/3 of construction firms say their job applicants lack skills they need. US: needs ~7M more homes to house everyone who needs shelter. Several states have taken steps to boost their const. workforces.
There is a city in CA where rents are ... actually falling. It’s Sacramento. How did this miracle of #affordablehousing happen? The city pursued a “more of everything” strategy. Yes, let’s have more subsidized apartments, but also more middle-class and luxury housing. Local officials streamlined approvals, lowered development fees, encouraged density and eliminated parking minimums. Result: A boom in residential construction and, as predicted, lower rents. https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/sacramento-california-affordable-housing-18663865.php
Charity weekend! On Saturday evening Bob and Sue Engler and I attended Senior Concerns’ annual fundraiser, supporting this nonprofit’s essential services for older residents.
On Sunday we were back for the Many Mansions Bowls of Hope event, where we joined Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, Ventura County CEO Dr. Sevet Johnson (pictured here with VCOE superindent Dr. Antonio Castro), and many other local community leaders in serving up tasty soups to hundreds of attendees interested in housing for everyone.
Delighted to say both events drew full-house crowds.
It really is simple: "Too often, policymakers ignore the obvious solution to homelessness — housing — in favor of immediate (and generally ineffective) responses, such as criminalization. Forced displacements and criminalization move people from one place to another, increasing their trauma and exacerbating the barriers they face to housing, while doing nothing to solve the underlying problem. "
NIMBYism 2.0: The growing need for #affordablehousing has put #NIMBYs on their heels. But they’re not giving up; they’re just changing the subject. In a Denver suburb, you see a new tactic: Demand apartment developers build parks or other open spaces. Parks are, of course, desirable, but should apartment owners and their tenants bear the entire cost? The aim, of course, isn’t more parks, it’s less housing. https://denverite.com/2024/03/21/lakewood-save-belmar-park-developers-green-open-space-petition/
"Most of the funding, $621 million, will go toward 36 projects aimed at bolstering the resilience of existing infrastructure through things like improving draining, moving roadways, and lifting up bridges.
An additional $119 million will go toward protecting, strengthening, or removing at-risk coastal infrastructure like highways."
The #Biden administration issued new minimum #EnergyStandards for homes built with federal dollars.
A bundle of #BuildingCodes that set efficiency targets for insulation,windows, HVAC and other systems, the updated energy standards apply only to new #AffordableHousing construction built with federal financing or funding.
All told, the average annual savings work out to $963 per household."