Abundant Housing LA’s Post

Ladies and gentlemen: For a prime case study for everything that is wrong in housing policy, I present to you . . . California!

Building affordable housing in California? Not so fast.

All levels of housing are needed in rural and urban communities all across Kansas. The process of resolving that need is complex. The solution can only come from citizens becoming engaged in the process. There is so much to learn (acronyms for acronyms), but we all must recognize major problems require a major lift. I learned much from my first Kansas Housing Resource Corporation conference. Homework begins here: #KSHOUSING #FHRC

Vermont's toolkit takes a comprehensive approach from permitting to financing. It will look at zoning as a foundation and visualize missing middle housing types, so people can wrap their heads around what it looks like. https://lnkd.in/ebp7yWpR #AffordableHousing #missingmiddle

Even when people try to do the right thing, NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) gets in the way. ============" In San Jose, Calif., the average cost to build just one unit of low-income housing shot up by 24% in 2022 alone, hitting a new high of $938,700, or roughly what it costs to buy a three-bedroom bungalow there, according to an October report commissioned by the city. San Francisco permitted 856 housing units this year through October. New Braunfels, Texas, which is one-eighth the size of San Francisco by population, permitted 1,940 units in the same period, according to data compiled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development." https://lnkd.in/gTMzs_mS

🌟 Save the Date! 🗓️Join our class Should I Stay or Should I Go: Steps to Review Your Housing Needs for Today and Tomorrow Wednesday, March 13, 2024 and Thursday, April 11, 2024 #community #communityfirst #together #support #realestate #realestateagent #realestateinvesting #richfield #richfieldmn #minnesota #kellerwilliams

At Covenant House New Jersey (CHNJ), fostering a supportive community is fundamental to our mission of aiding youth facing homelessness. We provide safe spaces where young individuals can rebuild their lives and strive for a better future through various housing options like emergency shelter and transitional housing. These programs offer not just essentials like food and clothing but also vital services like education support, counseling, and job training through the Dove Learning Center (DLC). Staff are dedicated to cultivating a sense of belonging, encouraging residents to uplift each other as they journey towards stability and independence. Despite empowering youth with essential skills, securing affordable housing remains a significant challenge due to limited availability and systemic barriers. High rental costs and landlord reluctance pose hurdles, compounded by discrimination based on age, race, or source of income (e.g., rent voucher). CHNJ actively works to address these issues, applying for government vouchers and forging partnerships with landlords to expand housing options. Even after leaving CHNJ, ongoing support is crucial to prevent setbacks, emphasizing the importance of community in sustaining stable housing for youth navigating adult life for the first time.   CHNJ remains steadfast in our commitment to building community as a cornerstone of securing safe and stable housing for youth. Through collaboration with partners and ongoing support, we strive to empower young individuals, ensuring they have the resources and assistance needed to thrive beyond our programs. To learn more about our efforts, click here to watch Kenny Greer, Associate Housing Director, discuss our work in detail. You can also learn more about how the current real estate market is impacting our ability to provide housing options to our youth here.

In the article below, Lee Patke, Executive Director of Greccio Housing, shares GPR's journey of the Bentley Commons Development- from a dream to reality. Affordable housing isn't just about shelter; it's about preserving our community's vitality. As Erika Tunson, principal of Monterey Elementary, rightly points out, it's an investment in our future, ensuring teachers and families in Southeast #ColoradoSprings can thrive without the burden of high housing costs. Read the full article here➡https://lnkd.in/dqj4BM-g

Wow: "49 units are taking 17 years to build, facing nearly every hurdle that state laws allow." Why don't stories like these outrage us more? We all see things like this probably every week in all parts of the country. Certainly California has more than its fair share, but NIMBYism and anti-renter activism are not limited to California. There's a growing YIMBY movement fighting back, but it still feels rather niche. This a topic where there's a lot of alignment between renter advocacy groups and industry groups, so... How powerful would it be if renter advocacy groups and industry groups came together with a unified voice to oppose anti-renter development hurdles and NIMBYism? How amazing would it be if the two took a stand against the weaponization of environmental protection laws being abused to block out affordable housing? How impactful could it be if the two pushed back against special interest groups adding porky requirements to affordable housing projects -- driving costs way up to levels that limit how much can get built? How significant would it be if the two came together to call out elected officials who claim to prioritize affordable housing, yet fail to take the actions necessary to actually produce/preserve it? How cool would it be if unaffiliated common-sense voices spoke out at local meetings to correct the record when NIMBYs try to disrupt the approval process with misleading statements? It should not take $1mm to build one affordable housing unit in California or anywhere else. It should not take 4 years to get build an apartment building in Los Angeles (with more than half of that time going to permit approvals). It should not be so easy for local elected officials to continually move back already established goalposts on developers working through approvals for multifamily housing -- especially affordable -- causing those projects to get delayed or canceled. We're seeing some positive steps to combat this nonsense. But how powerful would it be if everyone with a vested interest came together and united with one voice to oppose anti-renter policymaking? #housing #affordablehousing #multifamily https://lnkd.in/gHSYZrjy

Governor Newsom's answer to California's housing crisis: and other pigs will fly. California, thanks to governor Newsom' state-wide new housing mandate, Santa Cruz is being flooded by major construction projects that pretend to be 'affordable' housing. The reality is, while 2 bed apartments in Santa Cruz, that currently are out of the reach for everyone except top earners because they start at $3800 a month, the huge new chrome, steel and cement many-hundred-unit apartment blocks will only include a maximum 15% of affordable housing and the other 85% will be luxury apartments. The 85% of units under construction are being sold to investors as 'high return investment' properties with a 12% return. And this is governor Newsom's answer to California's housing crisis. https://lnkd.in/gkAS6GTE