Architecture Ransom Notes

Specifically, I will be writing about the funding of affordable housing via the taxation of market rate housing and how that affects housing prices. It's true that in some instances, affordable housing funds come from the general fund which is funded via other taxes, but that kind of goes beyond the scope of this blog. For the purposes of this post, when I say "affordable housing", I specifically mean a price controlled unit sold lower than market value, and not innovative market rate housing like tiny homes or creative uses of space in a condo. There are generally two ways developers may provide affordable housing: Provide below market rate units within the development. Occasionally, this will come with perks like density bonuses, but many times, it's just mandated by the city that the developer must provide a certain percentage.  Pay an in-lieu fee to the city, which varies by city. For an example of the first method, we go to a sprawling city in the East Bay...

Have you ever made goals that you eventually realize it would take several lifetimes to accomplish? Perhaps some New Year resolutions you followed stringently for about a month before the effort somehow fizzled away? You can maybe take comfort that the city of Concord had set a 22 year housing goal that would take 966 years to achieve, if the current housing trend continues. Unfortunately, when cities fail this spectacularly, it adversely affects tens of thousands to millions of people. The San Francisco Chronicle reports how many Bay Area cities are lagging far behind their targeted housing growth by 2040 and includes a link to a handy map by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. The housing goals are set by a governmental agency called the Association of Bay Area Governments and the projections are based on housing growth between 2010 and 2017. Every single county is over-performing its job forecast, some by massive amounts, and every single county is under-performing its...