I support affordable housing. Now, what is that again?

This post is a guest edition, courtesy of NumbersGirl. I was going to write something like this myself, but she did such a great job I would just be reinventing the wheel. Besides, I'm lazy and coming up with stuff to write about is hard. Here goes:

I'm glad that the Baltimore Sun has finally done some decent reporting, with this story.

At a County Council public hearing on the bills Monday night, advocates for affordable housing opposed two zoning measures sponsored by Ellicott City Democrat Courtney Watson that would restrict or block construction of two-family dwellings in some residential zones, including ones in Elkridge.

I don't claim to be an expert on affordable housing- I'll leave that to Hayduke. I also don't claim to know jack $hit about markets and such- that's FreeMarket's bag. But it would seem to me that the measure being proposed by Ms. Watson stifles a natural market for affordable housing.

John Liparini abandoned his proposal to build 2-unit dwellings on the property in question in response to resident opposition and the Council's plan to take legislative action. The residents' concerns? That he was "exploiting a loophole" which is NIMBY speak for "it's legal, and I don't like it, so I'm going to change the rule mid-game." Second on the list was that affordable housing shouldn't come with increased density. Huh? Are we going to put affordable single family homes on 3 acre lots in Glenelg? Lastly, was that Elkridge already had its fair share of subsidized housing. That's a good point. One thing we've learned in the affordable housing industry is that the best plan for sustainability is mixed-income housing. It's no good for anyone (except the NIMBY's) to have the po' folks in one building on the outskirts of a suburb, whilst the rich people reside behind tall gates. But this isn't subsidized housing. These are market-driven, smaller homes that due to their size are "affordable" without the cost to the government of subsidies (incentives). The properties were estimated to have market values of around $300,000. By today's standards in Howard County, this is pretty darn affordable for a working family, especially for a newly constructed home.

I can't wait to see what Ms. Watson proposes for affordable housing. If she won't let developers driven by profit develop affordable housing on their own, what type of plan does she have? I can bet it will come at a cost to the taxpayer. And while such a measure is warranted and welcome, wouldn't it be great if we can also allow it to happen on its own? For free?