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Showing posts with label Affordable Housing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Affordable Housing. Show all posts
Certain items are needed for all people to live a decent, modern life: decent housing, decent & safe food, clear, safe water & air; fair wage/job; access to health care. All other things are possible for a people from there. Making a (high-end designer) commodity of any of the aforementioned, makes those items inaccessible by lower income people and the poor. And from the financial crisis of the 2007-2009 era, wee see it also can make these items inaccessible to even the middle-class in America.
Behind affordable health care, real wages and affordable housing are the largest problems facing our nation. When jobs are harder to get, it makes it that much harder to maintain one's health, and to maintain a decent place to live. Basic, decent housing, healthcare and food are a human right. They should not be so commoditized (and unregulated) such that it places people of limited means on path to certain death.
As a practicing licensed architect, I have seen how the mortgage/banking, real estate and construction industries have artificially hicked up the cost of housing for no reason other than personal and corporate profit borne of greed.
Architects have wanted to build green for decades (and some of us have built green), in spite of obstacles. And we did it before it was called "green". Thirty years ago, we just called it "Best Practices in Design". Building efficiently with the intent not to adversely impact our clients' budget (on the lifecycle maintenance costs ) was the responsible, adult thing to do. Oh, and by the way, it was good for the environment, good for the economy and the local community. It has been the construction & development industries that have lobbied for weaker energy & building standards much in the way the Big 3 Detroit Car manufacturers lobbied against fuel efficiency standards. What was great for GM was not always what was great for America. (See NY Times: <http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/the-race-for-better-building-codes/> )
Right now, taxes, realtors' compensation, contractor's pay, property assessors pay, mortgage company profits are ALL based on the so-called assessed value of a property. EVERYONE in the aforementioned interest groups HAS A BUILT IN INCENTIVE to artificially push the cost/selling price higher for a home.
Cities get more in tax revenue if homes are valued higher. (So legislators want high-end homes built in their districts.) Realtors, bankers, contractors make more profit if the house is valued higher (because they make more money the higher the retail home selling price.) Home owners have an asset they can leverage for more credit if their house is valued for more --providing they have equity in the house, etc. Home Owners are induced into pretending to be more affluent than they are, so many get trapped into an unmanageable debt load. (Is your mortgage upside down?)
There is a disincentive in our current regulations/laws toward making housing affordable, and that has contributed largely to our current housing crisis.
Merely making credit (or loans) available to people who can't afford $400-900K homes doesn't solve the housing problem, when people only make $7-20/hour at WalMart (and then also have to pay for their own health care.) The supply of affordable, sub $175K homes is shrinking FAST and still out of reach for many WORKING Americans. Rents that are over $1000 per month are unaffordable for major portions of working Americans -- let alone the unemployed and underemployed. (See Barbara Ehrenreich's work <http://www.barbaraehrenreich.com/nickelanddimed.htm> )
As an architect, I can say with some righteous certainty, I have had people come to me with stories of greedy Developer/Builders who build a 2400 SF vinyl clad energy-inefficient home for about $160K, then turn around and collude with realtors and bankers, mortgage companies to sell the very home for $600-800K.
There is nothing wrong with a $800K energy efficient house sold to someone who can afford it. I know what a house costs to build, and it's not $500K for a vinyl clad, vinyl window house with forced air heating, laminate floors and cheap ceramic tile and budget American made, entry-level appliances. Granite counters & stainless steel appliances do not add $200-400K to the cost of a house. The public has been bamboozled by ill-intending developers, builders/ contractors, mortgage brokers and realtors. THE PROBLEM WITH SELLING A $160K HOUSE for $500-800K is THAT IT STILL PERFORMS LIKE A $160K HOUSE -- and THAT IS WHY IT LOST ITS VALUE BETWEEN 2008 - 2009. People should make a profit on their work, but a 300% premium on housing IS NOT SUSTAINABLE. We have our current national economic condition as proof.
The homes that are really sold at what they are truly worth, HAVE NOT lost their value by 25-30% --not even in this [2007-2010] market.We also need a more National (uniform) Building Code and set of standards, so that pre-fab housing and valuation across the US becomes more uniform (in quality and price), level and fair (i.e. affordable. Although some allowances in the codes must be made for climatic and geological differences, i.e. earthquake safety, climate differences, etc.) This means, houses need to be built better, more energy efficient and costs can be controlled better because regional variables are reduced. If structures were built to a more National Standard, then a $200K house in St. Louis would be worth about the same as a $200K house in Oregon-- and would not have a wild $200-400K cost difference for the same size, materials and features as is currently the case in real estate pricing in the U.S.A. I recently attended a conference of one of the regional carpenters' unions in my area, and one of the presenters ADMITTED that Contractors try to ENcourage stick building (i.e. wood frame) over pre-fab because Contractors make more money on stick-built structures. Consumers, what more proof (of price fixing) do you need? Standardizing building and zoning laws would go a LONG WAY to standardizing and leveling out fabrication/construction costs. If health care was affordable for all Americans, the operating COSTs to businesses would also decrease costs to manufacture and build good products-- including affordable houses.
We have to make changes to how we value, build and design structures across the entire country. Putting the product decision process (and minimum legal standards) in the hands of the industries that artificially hiked-up the prices in the first place, will never make us a sustainable nation. "No problem can be solved from the same Consciousness that Created It" -- Albert Einstein
Today, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley called the Property Tax Appraisal system fraudulent. In one specific neighborhood (Englewood) which has a sizable percentage of low-income households, the idea of having homes appraised at $300-$400K+, proved to be implausible even for a revenue hungry politician with a budget shortfall. Daley called for the Cook County tax assessor's office to revise and reassess how they arrive at those valuations. Daley is also calling for the IL State legislature to temper the rate at which property taxes can increase from year to year.
Part of the problem with the Cook County assessment system is that the current tax bills are based on assessments taken in 2006, before the current housing slide. [See the CBS local video of Daley's news conference.]
Well, Mayor Daley is right, the property appraisal system is fraudulent. However, he-- like a lot of other politicians & municipal officials across America, created a climate that enabled and encouraged this kind of greed to spiral out of control.
See, every Chicago Alderman (along with Daley) wanted new development and housing renovation in their neighborhoods to thrive-- rightly so. If housing values and construction numbers went up in a neighborhood, so too did (in theory) the tax base of their Ward. And what politician doesn't want to be seen as presiding over growth, expansion and wealth building in their own community? The Chicago Alderman-- along with Mayor Daley, wanted to also get the credit for this regeneration-- especially in previously depressed urban areas.
Also understand, the rise in property values means a rise in taxes, fees and income for ANY City, including a big city like Chicago. Mayors (and City Councilmen) want their budgets to be balanced, but they also want to add programs that get them re-elected. This had/has the obvious potential for a conflict of interest -- if left unregulated, to create problems over the long run. Of course, we know this is exactly what happened nationwide, on a much larger scale.
But as the race to increase development (and construction) in each Chicago neighborhood moved forward, so too did the greed meisters feeding the entire process.
I have a professional friend who confessed to me the other day that when she was looking for her house (just a few years ago), she felt the Mortgage Broker, Assessor and the Realtor had grossly overpriced the property. So she asked the assessor how they had arrived at the value of the property, and the person was stupid [brazen, really] enough to admit, "..well, this is the amount we think you personally qualify for". A STUNNING ADMISSION of GREED.
Alas, here we are at a situation where REALTORs, BANKERS, Assessors et.al., are ALL COMPLICIT in not valuing the property at what its market rate is, but what they think they can milk the would-be home owner for. It's not about the cost to re-build that house-- heaven forbid, should a calamity strike. It's about what the sleeze-bag mortgage company/bank and the Realtors can pocket in the way of profit-- regardless of what the house is actually worth.
This current American Housing/ Mortgage Crisis is nothing more than a story of American GREED & THIEVERY. And that is why you now find your house values are sliding down. And THEY SHOULD go down, because it's apparent they've been over-valued from the beginning (or least since about 1980).
In the next few weeks, I'll post pics of homes that I KNOW are over-valued. When are you home owners gonna learn, that buying an over-valued house (OR OVERPAYING FOR HOME REMODELING) is like paying $40,000 for a $19,000 car? You are the one getting screwed. Not the seller.
A reader asked what any of the bailout numbers represent in the real world. We know $500 billion, $700 billion or now the new Paulson plan of $1.8 trillion is a lot, but put this in terms that everyone can understand. A few examples for 2007:
* Microsoft generated $51 billion in revenue. * Citi, who has been hit hard in the credit crisis, saw $159 billion. * Walmart's 2007 total revenue was $388 billion. * ExxonMobil generated $404 billion.
Those are the numbers for some of the largest businesses in the US. For the US budget, here are a few examples from Bush's budget in 2007:
* Veterans' benefits at $73 billion * Education was $90 billion * Interest on US debt was $244 billion * Medicare $395 billion * Defense was $548 billion * Social Security was $586
In total, the 2007 federal budget was a total of $2.8 trillion. The latest updates for the Paulson bailout plan are pushing $1.8 trillion. For next year, we will start the year in a pretty big financial hole and it's going to have to be made up somewhere.
What does $1 Trillion Buy ? (Hint: All those Things that Politicians Were not Willing to Extend to the Ordinary American-- precisely because "the little people don't matter" to wealthy politicians. Not only sould Americans have the opportunity to renegotiate their mortgages, but that $700B to $1T could easily have paid for Slavery Reparations and for 40 Acres and A Mule for the descendants of slaves.)
The American Public is the real FOOL if they allow themselves to be trampled over by this Bailout Legislation, while investment bankers get golden parachutes and bonus packages.. If you vote against your own economic interests (while politicians, liars & thieves get away w/ larceny and no jail time), then you deserve to have your money stolen from you.
This photo has been shooting around the internet. It created quite a chuckle in architecture offices around the country. I thought it was something some wacky Californian came up with (notwithstanding the obvious earthquake danger).
Thankfully, it is NOT some moron's idea of Adaptive Re-Use, nor some hillbilly condo development scheme. It turns out this House Truck cousin is part of a theatrical set for the Openluchttheater outdoor Theatre Company located in Amsterdam.
The original production was back in 2005 for the play "Ivanov" by Tsjechov. Clever set design. You can see more photos of this set at the SonnyRadio website. (But don't use their website button to forward the photo link to your friends. It it could be a vehicle to gather email addresses for spam..)
For many years, the architecture students at Auburn University have been exploring planning and Design/ Build issues up close via hands-on experience through work done as part of Rural Studio (RS). Rural Studio examines the many facets of planning, affordablity and the challenges of providing real-world replicatable architectural solutions. As part of its project for 2007, Rural Studio (RS) has completed an interesting housing prototype for Hale County (Alabama). The target cost: $20K (labor and materials). Rural Studio (at Auburn's School of Architecture) was the brainchild of architect/educator Samuel Mockbee & D.K. Ruth. Mockbee passed away a few years ago, but the program is still operational and has produced an interesting student project for 2007: an affordable residence built for about $20K for some of the areas' low income residents.
Very much borne out the southern shot gun vernacular, this structure is all about utility and fulfilling basic [housing] needs. The Katrina Cottages (designed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, $30-100K each) share some of the same (albeit abstract) vernacular as the $20K House in a direct response to the problem of readily erected & affordable housing. After all, the lack of affordable housing is probably the single most under-reported and oft ignored socio-economic problem facing the US -- moreso than even health care or exaggerated threats to our national safety. (The US housing market should undergo further, perhaps even more dramatic corrections in the months head, imo. But I digress..)
The students & faculty have briefly documented the project, posted photos on the process, etc., on a blog devoted to the project. Surf over to Auburn's School of Architecture to read and hear more about the $20K House. Also, Public Radio has done a piece featuring this project entitled , "The Architecture of Decency", (airing November/Dec.). Visit speakingoffaith.org to hear the broadcast (mp3 format). I'd like to see the ledger on the cost for this particular project, as the number of workers and the time invested if calculated at fair market (or even minimum wage) seems as though it would have pushed the true cost well beyond $20K --even adjusted for regional cost differences. (Info & photos on the blog suggest that about 40 or so people have contributed their work, money and/or time to the project.)
Perhaps RS will publish a data accounting and a more detailed outline of costs, labor supplied, man hours, challenges, etc. Publishing that data would prove far more useful than keeping it limited to the interested participants and sponsors. I mean, if you are really concerned about affordability, you help others make affordable housing a reality in other communities by sharing data, methods, experiences. Otherwise, you create the proprietary mess that surrounds the human genome industry.
Certain items are needed for all people to live a decent, modern life: decent housing, decent & safe food, clear, safe water & air; fair wage/job; access to health care. All other things are possible for a people from there.
