Hey All,
I work for a non-profit organization on Long Island, and one of their main tenets is that urban sprawl begets an affordable housing problem. I had to read a paper which basically countered the opposite - and as we all know, the charge against UGBs like Portland's is that they drive up the cost of living and squeeze out affordable housing.
How can it be both?
Obviously, when people began departing cities for exclusive bedroom communites they zoned out multifam housing and poor people. On LI, it remains this way for the most part, as towns and residents are independently wealthy and shun development, commercial or residential. With the lack of any available land in this region, as we have a natural UGB of sorts, prices have skyrocketed. You can't find a studio for less than $1000 a month anywhere in the NYC boros or LI. In the poorest census place on LI, the median house value is $275,000. A 1BR 600 sq. ft. co-op (God forbid you can find an actual condo) apartment in a decent neighborhood of Queens or Brooklyn runs between $200 and $400k. Our housing cost is approx. 4 times the national average.
It's amazing how someone as anti-growth as me has flipped top-to bottom supporting any kind of growth and development! I'm looking to places like Atlanta for guidance!
Any opinions on the matter? What is the key to keeping housing prices down? Expand supply? How does Europe keep prices reasonable with relatively little growth?
Any insights welcome.
-djmadnan
I work for a non-profit organization on Long Island, and one of their main tenets is that urban sprawl begets an affordable housing problem. I had to read a paper which basically countered the opposite - and as we all know, the charge against UGBs like Portland's is that they drive up the cost of living and squeeze out affordable housing.
How can it be both?
Obviously, when people began departing cities for exclusive bedroom communites they zoned out multifam housing and poor people. On LI, it remains this way for the most part, as towns and residents are independently wealthy and shun development, commercial or residential. With the lack of any available land in this region, as we have a natural UGB of sorts, prices have skyrocketed. You can't find a studio for less than $1000 a month anywhere in the NYC boros or LI. In the poorest census place on LI, the median house value is $275,000. A 1BR 600 sq. ft. co-op (God forbid you can find an actual condo) apartment in a decent neighborhood of Queens or Brooklyn runs between $200 and $400k. Our housing cost is approx. 4 times the national average.
It's amazing how someone as anti-growth as me has flipped top-to bottom supporting any kind of growth and development! I'm looking to places like Atlanta for guidance!
Any opinions on the matter? What is the key to keeping housing prices down? Expand supply? How does Europe keep prices reasonable with relatively little growth?
Any insights welcome.
-djmadnan