Density is on the City Council agenda tomorrow night. Will this lead to more affordable housing? Not likely. So what's really going on? The answers will surprise you.
The Free Market dictates home and rent prices. Housing is like a commodity. How can you make gold more affordable? It would require massive subsidies somewhere along the line. In doing so you raise taxes and make housing less affordable. Higher taxes are passed on to tenants.
I wrote this about Stafford, but it fits for Fredericksburg too.
There are many trends that bring people to Stafford. The housing costs are lower here than in Northern Virginia and the DC Area, so I believe that's the biggest factor. People move here simply to get a bigger house. Many come from Northern Virginia where they can sell their Condo or small house and buy a bigger one here. The rental cost are also much less. Federal workers that get transferred here also want more house for their money, so they move to Stafford.
Some say we need affordable housing, but what they neglect to see is Stafford is more affordable than the County's to the North of us. No matter what we do the appetite for affordable housing will never be satisfied.
This column is littered with ad hominem attacks, which hurts your case. You accuse City Council of acting in bad faith, yet provide no evidence members are proposing UDO revision with ulterior motives. Fredericksburg isn’t the first city to propose increasing density in an effort to offer more affordable housing. (See Alexandria.) Fredericksburg won’t survive if we bow to the vocal minority, some of whom seem to think only well-off empty-nesters should live downtown. Meanwhile, you spend very little time describing your solution to the lack of affordable housing. So let’s talk about your solution a little more. I’d gladly support public housing downtown as you suggest. But do you sincerely think downtown residents who opposed ADUs would welcome a local housing authority--particularly one with the stated purpose of offering more housing downtown for low-income residents? I can’t imagine the amount of pearl clutching if this were proposed. Not to mention, public housing has a poor track record for a variety of reasons, including discriminatory zoning and a laissez faire approach by the federal government. Your simple solution is naive at best, but I really don’t think you’re looking for a solution. You and other residents are perfectly fine with the status quo.
I find it interesting that “credits” (what are these?) for building ADUs would go only to developers, not to homeowners/residents. And that these (up to four stories tall!) buildings are granted “By Right” meaning no notification to, or say by, the adjoining property owner. What gives? l
The Free Market dictates home and rent prices. Housing is like a commodity. How can you make gold more affordable? It would require massive subsidies somewhere along the line. In doing so you raise taxes and make housing less affordable. Higher taxes are passed on to tenants.
I wrote this about Stafford, but it fits for Fredericksburg too.
There are many trends that bring people to Stafford. The housing costs are lower here than in Northern Virginia and the DC Area, so I believe that's the biggest factor. People move here simply to get a bigger house. Many come from Northern Virginia where they can sell their Condo or small house and buy a bigger one here. The rental cost are also much less. Federal workers that get transferred here also want more house for their money, so they move to Stafford.
Some say we need affordable housing, but what they neglect to see is Stafford is more affordable than the County's to the North of us. No matter what we do the appetite for affordable housing will never be satisfied.
This column is littered with ad hominem attacks, which hurts your case. You accuse City Council of acting in bad faith, yet provide no evidence members are proposing UDO revision with ulterior motives. Fredericksburg isn’t the first city to propose increasing density in an effort to offer more affordable housing. (See Alexandria.) Fredericksburg won’t survive if we bow to the vocal minority, some of whom seem to think only well-off empty-nesters should live downtown. Meanwhile, you spend very little time describing your solution to the lack of affordable housing. So let’s talk about your solution a little more. I’d gladly support public housing downtown as you suggest. But do you sincerely think downtown residents who opposed ADUs would welcome a local housing authority--particularly one with the stated purpose of offering more housing downtown for low-income residents? I can’t imagine the amount of pearl clutching if this were proposed. Not to mention, public housing has a poor track record for a variety of reasons, including discriminatory zoning and a laissez faire approach by the federal government. Your simple solution is naive at best, but I really don’t think you’re looking for a solution. You and other residents are perfectly fine with the status quo.
I find it interesting that “credits” (what are these?) for building ADUs would go only to developers, not to homeowners/residents. And that these (up to four stories tall!) buildings are granted “By Right” meaning no notification to, or say by, the adjoining property owner. What gives? l