I was surprised that the 2017 tax cut didn't seem to have any mechanisms to address the lack of middle class housing. I'm not sure if "opportunity zones" is sufficient.
I grew up in a privately owned middle density (around 100 apartments) building, no parking but close to public transit and affordable for a wide range of income, it's baffling that more of these don't exist.
Definitely worth supporting legislation like HB 2001 in Oregon that makes it possible to build slightly less expensive housing in broader areas.
One caveat though - living in big coastal cities we get decensitized to costs. 350k for a 2br isn’t really affordable. Using the rule of thumb from 60s - if median income is ~60k, the affordable home should not be more than 3x that, which is $180k.
Maybe a first step is to legalize higher density constructions in general - allow using a larger percentage of the same lot, subdivided into more units, all by right without the need to obtain exceptions from your local zoning board and without the chance for your neighbors to veto the development.
If it were dirt simple to replace a single family home on a large lot with multiple homes on subdivisions of the lot, by right, for literally every single neighborhood in the state, we would avoid this cat and mouse game where everyone wants higher density until it comes to their neighborhood, because in their neighborhood the {traffic, schools, transit, lack of transit, sewer infrastructure, environmental concern, blocking sunlight, blocking view, etc} situation is too precarious to take the risk, so we need everyone to move somewhere else
Even if we want the government to take heavy action to spur more construction, part of the reason every developer builds luxury housing is because it's so damn expensive and risky just to get through the stuff that comes before construction even begins (and consequently, lots sit idle for years at a time going through approval). That idle capital needs a return, so the only viable construction is luxury. We can address this issue now, and so if we inject taxpayer dollars to address housing later they will be more efficiently used anyways
Luxury housing is built because it’s more profitable. But as new luxury is built, older luxury just becomes middle income.
Hell, in DC the luxury places are often smaller than older middle income apartments.
Also in some cities, middle income people cannot afford housing period.
Light sleeper here.
Apartments are a nonstarter for a lot of people, due to poor soundproofing.
Unless and until soundproofing gets better -- and I mean a LOT better -- apartments will never be practical for a nontrivial percentage of the population, as much as we might otherwise prefer them.
Most likely never going to happen, at least not in the US where apartment buildings are basically wooden matchboxes. I grew up in the well-known gray communist concrete blocks in Eastern Europe and I never heard my upstairs neighbors peeing until I moved to the USA.