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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>"I believe sooner or later, we will see a bunch of houses
sitting empty with banks desperate to unload a while elephant."<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>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?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>g</DIV></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=privatejf32@hotmail.com href="mailto:privatejf32@hotmail.com">J
Ford</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=the_ivies3@yahoo.com
href="mailto:the_ivies3@yahoo.com">Tom Ivie</A> ; <A
title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, November 01, 2007 6:15
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] Affordable
Housing</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>J :]<BR><BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<HR>
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:58:17 -0700<BR>From: the_ivies3@yahoo.com<BR>To:
vision2020@moscow.com<BR>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Affordable
Housing<BR><BR>
<DIV>Hi Donovan,</DIV>
<DIV>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.<BR><BR><B><I>Donovan Arnold
<donovanjarnold2005@yahoo.com></I></B> wrote:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=EC_replbq
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid">
<DIV>Joe,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In my own personal quest for housing, I also had trouble finding
anything decent and affordable in Moscow. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Here is why I think finding decent housing is unaffordable in Moscow
for many people;</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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! </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Best,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Donovan</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR><BR><B><I>Joe Campbell <joekc@adelphia.net></I></B>
wrote:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=EC_replbq
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid">In
her recent letter to the editor, Shelley Bennett writes this about
development:<BR><BR>"... in order to get companies to locate in Moscow,
we also need affordable <BR>housing options and support services that
make living here affordable. The <BR>actions of the current mayor and
many members of the City Council have <BR>done everything they can over
the course of the last few years to make sure <BR>we do not have
affordable housing options."<BR><BR>I don't know much about affordable
housing. What I do know, I learned from <BR>Aaron Ament, who is a City
Council member, and Bob Stout, who served <BR>longer on City Council
than Tom Lamar. Bob was in favor of affordable housing, <BR>it was a key
issue in his campaign two years ago. Aaron, too, is in favor of
<BR>affordable housing. I have little reason to believe that Lamar, or
Linda Paul, <BR>or Evan Holmes would not be in favor of affordable
housing.<BR><BR>I have two questions.<BR><BR>Is what Bennett says true?
Has the council made affordable housing options worse?<BR><BR>Doesn't
affordable housing begin at the point of development? <BR><BR>I think
so. I think that the developer has a lot more control over costs
<BR>than any city council, especially if we're restricting government in
the way <BR>that Jeff thinks we should. The difference in the cost of a
single house with <BR>city fees vs. without them is negligible, I
imagine.<BR><BR>But maybe there is something I'm missing.<BR><BR>Best,
Joe<BR><BR>=======================================================<BR>List
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