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A new @DataProgress poll shows 60% of likely voters are in favor of public housing.
But most places are offloading public housing units and Americans routinely block housing (affordable or not) in their neighborhoods. So what's the deal?
New from me > https://www.vox.com/22248779/affordable-housing-public-housing-poll-homelessness-crisis-covid-19-nimby-yimby-zoning
But most places are offloading public housing units and Americans routinely block housing (affordable or not) in their neighborhoods. So what's the deal?
New from me > https://www.vox.com/22248779/affordable-housing-public-housing-poll-homelessness-crisis-covid-19-nimby-yimby-zoning
Public housing has been in the news after a NYT Op-ed praised @AOC and @IlhanMN's plan to "fix housing" by repealing the Faircloth Amendment (a Clinton-era addition to the 1937 Housing Act that essentially locked the number of public housing units to what existed in 1999).
But the Faircloth's restrictions aren't what's constraining our public housing stock -- America's public housing stock is well below 1999 levels (h/t @jandrews81)
But back to the poll -- @DataProgress found significant support for a "proposal where cities or counties build new, affordable housing that people can then rent from and which would compete with private housing options."
While I'm in favor of more public housing programs to immediately deal with the homelessness crisis (see: HUD-VASH, a successful PH program to reduce homeless veteran population) I'm skeptical that it's the best solution. https://www.vox.com/22248779/affordable-housing-public-housing-poll-homelessness-crisis-covid-19-nimby-yimby-zoning
But in this piece I explored whether we could trust people's support for public housing in the abstract.
A 2019 survey from @Redfin showed that 53 percent of US homeowners who had recently or would soon buy or sell their homes were in favor of zoning that restricts density.
A 2019 survey from @Redfin showed that 53 percent of US homeowners who had recently or would soon buy or sell their homes were in favor of zoning that restricts density.
In "Neighborhood Defenders" Boston University researchers (Katherine Einstein, @davidmglick, @MaxwellBPalmer) look at the public comments in MA neighborhood forums and find only 15% of comments supportive of new housing. https://www.vox.com/22248779/affordable-housing-public-housing-poll-homelessness-crisis-covid-19-nimby-yimby-zoning
They write that only "40% of meeting participants show up in support of new housing. These figures stand in stark contrast to high levels of support in Massachusetts for new housing and affordable housing, at least in the abstract" https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2019/3/12/neighborhood-defenders-and-the-capture-of-land-use-politics
Mayor @AndyBerke put the problem to me: “There isn’t some magical place where there’s lots of undeveloped land that is low cost and near major employers...And yet, if you go to a community meeting, you may think we are purposefully ignoring such an Eden.” https://www.dataforprogress.org/memos/public-option-for-broadband-child-care-housing
And even in the most liberal of cities, San Francisco, a new 100 percent affordable housing development for seniors run by 2 nonprofit developers was opposed by locals. https://sf.curbed.com/2016/10/6/13189882/1296-shotwell-affordable-housing-opposition
But it's likely the case that on-the-ground opposition is not actually representative of the population's beliefs. The aforementioned BU researchers found that 95% of those who attended neighborhood meetings were white despite being only 80% of the population
So it does feel plausible that a majority of folks are in favor of new affordable, public housing. But the biggest obstacle to that isn't the Faircloth Amendment or even funding -- it's NIMBY-ism. https://www.dataforprogress.org/memos/public-option-for-broadband-child-care-housing
But despair not! There has actually been some good news on this front. Recently, the capital of America's NIMBY stronghold (California) has taken a major step towards eliminating single family only zoning by a unanimous vote of the council. https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article248544635.html
But my favorite story which could provide a model for national change, was what happened in Minneapolis in 2019. @RickKahlenberg's words for The Atlantic sum up the "Neighbors for More Neighbors" approach:
If we're to start building any type of housing, advocates will have to unite first to build a coalition in favor of allowing more construction at all -- public or private. https://www.vox.com/22248779/affordable-housing-public-housing-poll-homelessness-crisis-covid-19-nimby-yimby-zoning