[Vision2020] Affordable Housing

J Ford privatejf32 at hotmail.com
Thu Nov 1 06:46:22 PDT 2007


Yeah - now THERE's some progressive thinking going on!

"Wouldn't that be the market sorting it self out? Doesn't 
one mans (or banks) "desperate to unload white elephant" becomes 
another mans affordable housing?"  gc

J  :]


From: jampot at roadrunner.com
To: privatejf32 at hotmail.com; the_ivies3 at yahoo.com; vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Affordable Housing
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2007 06:39:03 -0700










"I believe sooner or later, we will see a bunch of houses 
sitting empty with banks desperate to unload a while elephant."

Wouldn't that be the market sorting it self out? Doesn't 
one mans (or banks) "desperate to unload white elephant" becomes 
another mans affordable housing?
 
g

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: 
  J 
  Ford 
  To: Tom Ivie ; vision2020 at moscow.com 
  Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 6:15 
  AM
  Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Affordable 
  Housing
  
The thing is, communities around us are selling houses at half 
  to one quarter the prices seen in Moscow and renting for far less than 
  Moscow.  The community and developers (yes, they set the price of the 
  houses they build) need to get together and become educated in what really 
  sells, how it sells and why it sells.  The housing in Moscow is just 
  ridiculous when you consider other towns, with larger populations, are seeing 
  houses going for so much less.  I think for a town like ours to have SO 
  many developments with SO many houses in each one is just short-sighted or 
  no-sighted and I believe sooner or later, we will see a bunch of houses 
  sitting empty with banks desperate to unload a while elephant.

I also 
  believe that if Moscow continues to rely on UI or WSU to be main-stayers in 
  the employment fields, we will see a major decline not only in students coming 
  to the area but people staying here.  If the current plans to move the UI 
  colleges to other parts of the state holds true, it will especially hurt us if 
  we don't do something about attracting other types of industry to this 
  area.

Its all fine and well that "New Cities" was accepted by Moscow to 
  be the new vision of things to come, but nothing is going to really pick the 
  area up economically if we can't be more supportive in developing business 
  opportunities rather than housing developments.  Can't sell what people 
  can't pay for due to lack of jobs.

Nor do we need to continue to allow 
  some groups in Moscow to become/remain tax-exempt but owning HUGE amounts of 
  commercial properties, yet service-demanding.

J :]



  
    
    Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:58:17 -0700
From: the_ivies3 at yahoo.com
To: 
    vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Affordable 
Housing


    Hi Donovan,
    I agree with you on this one and as you point out, this was a problem 
    WAY before our current city council.  However, there is also another 
    element to affordable housing.  What I am talking about is entry level 
    starter homes.  Not to blame the developers, because I don't know that 
    it is their fault, but the cost of land is not affordable, this gets passed 
    onto the homebuyer.  It is probably a matter of economics that the 
    developers or builders build $200,000 on up homes on the property.  I 
    don't blame them for wanting to get the most money out of their 
    investment.  The fact is that salaries have not gone up at even close 
    to the same rate that housing prices did.  There has been a lot of 
    purchasing of homes done in a manner of creative financing that neither you 
    or I could even try, but those buying strategies have caused some tapering 
    off in the housing market as a direct or indirect result. Does that higher 
    market affect affordable housing?  I think it might.  But I don't 
    know how to explain myself on it.  Maybe someone can takeover from here 
    and explain if I am onto something.  And the same is true if I am 
    completely wrong.  I don't mind learning something 
    new.

Donovan Arnold 
    <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:
    
      Joe,
       
      While I certainly am not a trained expert, I have had extensive 
      experience trying to find affordable housing in Moscow and worked with 
      many others also trying to afford decent housing. 
       
      When I was in the ASUI Senate, one of my living groups was Family 
      Housing. That caused me to investigate the situation because 
      of the frequent and prevailing problems these families had trying to 
      find adequate housing in the Moscow region. 
       
      I also worked with people with disabilities and could not by law work 
      more than a few hours each week or face losing their medical care which 
      was paramount for their survival. 
       
      In my own personal quest for housing, I also had trouble finding 
      anything decent and affordable in Moscow. 
       
      Here is why I think finding decent housing is unaffordable in Moscow 
      for many people;
       
      Income restriction. If a couple or two adults make more than $24,000 
      gross, combined, they do not qualify for low income housing. If they do, 
      their rent is still usually about $500-$650 a month plus utilities. So two 
      people making $24,000, net $20,000, must spend about $7000 on housing 
      and utilities. Giving them only $6500 a piece to live on for the whole 
      year, not a fun situation to be in! 
       
      Another encroachment is the education exclusion for low income 
      housing. You cannot be a full time student at UI and legally live in most 
      low income housing units. Undergraduate students taking more than 8 
      credits, or graduate students taking more than 6 do not qualify for 
      most of the low income housing units in Moscow. Another person that 
      doesn't qualify is a student trying to get his or her GED. If they are 
      taking classes to get a GED, you cannot get into low income housing 
      BECAUSE you are full time student. 
       
      Market rate based low income housing assistance is also a 
      problem in Moscow. That is where the federal government simply discounts 
      housing units by about 20% below the market rate. For example, a housing 
      unit that is a two bedroom, one bath unit on the open market in 
      Moscow would be about $625. So the rate is reduced only to about $525 a 
      month. Still unaffordable because Moscow's housing market is so 
      tight, you cannot get the rate to be affordable for many Moscow residents. 
      
       
      Next, you also have rent based rent. These units are 
      limited, hard to get into, and generally places you don't want to 
      live unless you have absolutely not other choice. 
      Unless you are on Section 8, which is hard to get into and find 
      a place, on want to live in a tiny cramped noisy studio 
      apartment, you are pretty much screwed out of a decent 
      affordable housing unit in Moscow. 
       
      I would also like to point out, that the problem with Moscow housing 
      is that there simply is not enough housing for the population. Moscow has 
      one of the highest per cap. unit in the state, over 21,000 people for 
      just 8,000 units. That drives the rent way up. 
       
      The people, that I think have the hardest time, are those that make 
      between $18,000 and $24,000 a year. Because at that rate, you don't 
      qualify for any type of government assistance, not housing, not food 
      stamps,not medical care, and very limited  education 
      assistance if any. $18,000-$24,000 is not enough to pay for housing, 
      food, medical care, transportation, and other basic needs in Moscow when 
      you have no assistance. 
       
       
      Because of rules and restrictions on low income housing, many low 
      income housing units sit empty while many who need those housing units are 
      not allowed in.
       
      My suggestion would be to either change the rules so low income 
      housing units get filled up, or build so much housing that the prices fall 
      from competition. 
       
      Best,
       
      Donovan
       
       
       
       
       
      

Joe Campbell <joekc at adelphia.net> 
      wrote:
      In 
        her recent letter to the editor, Shelley Bennett writes this about 
        development:

"... in order to get companies to locate in Moscow, 
        we also need affordable 
housing options and support services that 
        make living here affordable. The 
actions of the current mayor and 
        many members of the City Council have 
done everything they can over 
        the course of the last few years to make sure 
we do not have 
        affordable housing options."

I don't know much about affordable 
        housing. What I do know, I learned from 
Aaron Ament, who is a City 
        Council member, and Bob Stout, who served 
longer on City Council 
        than Tom Lamar. Bob was in favor of affordable housing, 
it was a key 
        issue in his campaign two years ago. Aaron, too, is in favor of 
        
affordable housing. I have little reason to believe that Lamar, or 
        Linda Paul, 
or Evan Holmes would not be in favor of affordable 
        housing.

I have two questions.

Is what Bennett says true? 
        Has the council made affordable housing options worse?

Doesn't 
        affordable housing begin at the point of development? 

I think 
        so. I think that the developer has a lot more control over costs 
        
than any city council, especially if we're restricting government in 
        the way 
that Jeff thinks we should. The difference in the cost of a 
        single house with 
city fees vs. without them is negligible, I 
        imagine.

But maybe there is something I'm missing.

Best, 
        Joe

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