Martin Pedersen’s Post

What is the role of government in addressing our housing challenges? Professor Lily Geismer encourages a turn toward European-style social housing, saying in her article: "This vision of social housing has a chance to undo the mistakes of the postwar era, which stigmatized public housing, and produced substandard and segregated residences for only the poorest of Americans. But for such programs to truly solve the affordable housing crisis, the federal government needs to be involved. The scope of the problem is simply too large for states and localities to tackle. Imaging and designing a federal initiative will take policymakers who can think big, while learning from the mistakes of the post-WWII housing projects. Crucially, they should follow the lead of local housing activists who see housing as a right, not a commodity."

From Atlanta, GA to Montgomery County, MD, government entities are taking a more aggressive role in stimulating housing development, including taking an ownership stake, according to a new policy brief by the NYU Furman Center's Claudia Aiken, Matthew Murphy, and Hayley Raetz. In some pockets of the country,  limited capacity among private affordable housing developers has necessitated government action. Other jurisdictions face federal funding constraints and are turning to local resources to fill funding gaps. Additionally, among some policymakers, there is an increasing interest in creating affordable “decommodified” housing, consisting of mixed-income communities in which private entities are unable to capitalize on rising land values over time. However, an expansion of the public’s role in this direction raises several key considerations: Can these emerging models actually achieve deep affordability while maintaining high quality over time? How do they balance public ownership goals with financial sustainability? And at what cost? The NYU Furman Center and its Housing Solutions Lab’s policy brief examines emerging models of public development and ownership across three main groups, providing insights into their design, benefits, risks, and policy implications. Find the full report here ➡ https://lnkd.in/ew-pd_Zs #housing #housingpolicy #research #socialhousing #publicdevelopment #housingdevelopment 

👏👏👏 We really like this post, thanks Mellis Haward. It highlights how community agency is at the heart of the CLT model. We often talk about how our CLT homes are genuinely and permanently affordable, with the price linked to average local earnings in perpetuity. But just as significant and valuable, is how our model is community-led: communities campaign for land, they choose the architect – like Archio – and collaborate on the design. These are homes for and by the people. Communities transform their own neighbourhoods. There's no question that community agency deserves a place in the new government's housing strategy. 🏡🏡🏡

Lack of affordable housing options has reached critical levels in Washington communities, according to a recently released Five-Year Housing Advisory Plan from the Affordable Housing Advisory Board. The report highlights the need for action, confirming estimates from another report last year that details the state must add over a million new homes within the next 20 years to meet current need and accommodate population growth. The Housing Advisory Plan includes profiles for each county to provide local insights, over 50 key recommendations, and stories to highlight the impact on families and individuals facing housing insecurity. "This report describes the housing challenges resulting from investments in affordable housing not keeping pace with Washington’s dynamic growth," said Tedd Kelleher, Commerce's Housing Policy Manager. "Implementing the recommendations in this report at the necessary scale is critical to meeting the housing needs of our state." Read the report and full press release: https://bit.ly/4dAdpc1

Thank you Urban Institute for putting together this brief on housing decommodification. It is vital that we understand the roots of the housing crisis in order to address it. The policies that allow housing to serve first as an investment and second as a place to live must be addressed, otherwise housing will remain out of reach for far too many. We are living in the aftermath of both the 2008 financial crisis, which allowed investors to swoop in to claim large swaths of the housing market, as well as the public health emergency from COVID-19, after which we've seen massive increases in rental pricing. This follows decades or disinvestment from public housing and legislation that requires the number of public housing units stay the same as it was in the 1990s! (Faircloth Amendment) While creating more housing stock is important to meet the demand, it is too slow to be the only solution. Viewing housing as a human right, and acting accordingly by taking more of existing housing stock out of the traditional economic structure, is a way for us to make more housing affordable now. We need to start shifting the narrative and talk more about how we can implement social housing, tenant owned communities, and community land trusts to address the housing crisis. A better future is possible! https://lnkd.in/grSDTUQj

Innovation to make housing a basic right for all. A new kind of public housing for all income levels https://lnkd.in/gtqCrtnD

Veteran Housing Corp advocates and supports all policies that promote permanent affordable housing programs that provide for affordability periods in perpetuity. No matter what local, state, and federal government officials do to promote affordable housing, for all programs that use taxpayer dollars or government incentives should require that the affordability periods be permanent and in perpetuity, otherwise all we are doing is "kicking the can down the road" for future generations to deal with and be burdened with!

As identified at the VP debate, housing affordability is a major concern for American working and middle class families—the unaffordability of housing is particularly difficult for younger Americans who hope to form stable families. Unfortunately several of the proposals coming out of the campaigns would be expensive and ineffective. The Harris-Walz proposals for large subsidies both to individuals and local governments will increase housing costs and distort the housing markets. On the other hand, the Trump-Vance proposals to build on public land not currently being used or set aside as national parks could substantially increase housing supply. Finally focusing on reducing zoning, land use and other regulatory burdens to building housing maybe most promising approach.

Angela Rayner's piece in The Observer today trailing the upcoming consultation on the NPPF...it's heavy on rhetoric, but light on detail. There's been a lot of discussion in the industry on Green Belt and housing targets, but less on affordable housing. This article and the emphasis on 'building the biggest wave of social and affordable housing for a generation' reminds us that any planning reforms for a Labour government will always be underscored by an expectation on more affordable housing. Let's see what we get on Tuesday on this topic. So far, all we know we are getting is the golden rules on grey belt land (requiring 50% affordable housing). I would not be surprised if we see a tightening up of the approach on affordable housing delivery, which runs counter to the more enabling approach on overall general market housing. Keep your eyes peeled on our coverage next week and let me know if you want to be included on our mailing list. https://lnkd.in/ew22WSMr

Useful context on a vexing policy question: Why is it so expensive to build affordable housing? (and why can't we build more of it?) #housingforall #affordablehousing #housingfirst