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SWBTATTReg

SWBTATTReg's Journal
SWBTATTReg's Journal
July 6, 2019

Interesting article I came across, describing attempts to fix housing shortages for lower income...

workers/families/people. I didn't realize that there was so much opposition to these attempts to expand the amount of affordable housing and/or transportation/etc. (but to be honest, I haven't really paid attention to it, since I've sold my bigger home and moved to a smaller home 1 mile away, same neighborhood)...
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Article located at:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/as-cities-try-to-fix-housing-boomers-are-radicalizing-to-stop-progress_n_5d1bcf0ee4b07f6ca58598a9

Progressive Boomers Are Making It Impossible For Cities To Fix The Housing Crisis
Residents of wealthy neighborhoods are taking extreme measures to block much-needed housing and transportation projects.

SEATTLE — In May 2018, a public meeting in a wealthy enclave of one of America’s most progressive cities devolved into a two-hour temper tantrum as longtime residents incensed about a proposed tax to fund homeless services shouted down its proponents. “Lies!” the crowd bellowed as an attendee explained that the tax would be levied on corporations, not citizens. “Shill!” “Plant!” “Phony!” they shouted as another supporter spoke. “Coward!” a man yelled at a homeless woman as she took the microphone.
These scenes are usually sparked by projects or policy changes intended to address America’s worsening housing crisis. More than 200 American cities now have median home values above $1 million. The construction of new dwellings has lagged behind the number of new households eight years in a row. Both congestion and climate change are prompting many cities to explore expanding their public transportation networks.
etc.
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The article is pretty long. I didn't want to copy it all here, as it's too long, but it's good reading and it woke me up to a situation that I didn't know was that serious of an issue. Perhaps you're seeing it in your area. I suspect that it has to do w/ massive development projects undertaken in earlier days that pretty well rode roughshod over the objections of previous city residents (the city listened to developers instead of home owners) AND the fact (in my case) that many of us brought our homes in these cities w/o any help from anyone and fixed up our homes by the tens of thousands, again, with no one else's help, and then, 20-30 years later, all of a sudden we have people coming in and telling the residents what needs to be done.

What say you? Perhaps you've seen something similar to this article in your area. Like I said, I didn't realize that this was getting to be a big issue w/ lots of cities but apparently it is, and will probably impact eventually housing prices and services (since prices are so high, who is going to buy these homes later? and services, how are you going to get workers if they have to drive quite a ways to get to their jobs in the cities?).














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