Letter: Forget developers and use bonds for affordable housing

Graphic by Lori Deaton

[On] April 12, Asheville’s Affordable Housing Advisory Committee met to discuss a proposed policy on selling or donating city land to developers as an incentive to build affordable apartments. The theme: Don’t scare off the developers. Even donating or discounting city land wasn’t enough to guarantee apartments that stay affordable for 30 years. The AHAC reduced the goal to 15 years, citing risks to developers.

The kicker: Developers get $80,000 of subsidy on average for each affordable unit. This gets the city an apartment that won’t stay affordable forever, and city doesn’t see a cent of the rent charged. Not to mention that $80,000 approaches the construction cost of an affordable apartment.

This strategy is corporate welfare, and it isn’t working. Rents skyrocketed 10.7% last year. More people are cost-burdened than ever: Over one in three Asheville households are paying more than 30% of their income on housing. While city efforts are admirable, they haven’t produced results on the scale needed. We’re paying too much money for not enough apartments because the city’s approach is all about private developers.

It’s time for a different approach. Instead of giving away money to wealthy developers, the city can issue bonds to build its own affordable, public housing. Instead of begging developers to make 20% of their units affordable, we can build the amount we need, and keep them affordable indefinitely.

With its AAA bond rating, Asheville is in a perfect position to build public housing with low-interest bonds. Since the city would own this housing, the rents could pay off the bond payments without new taxes. Asheville residents overwhelmingly support bonds: The 2016 bond referendums all passed with about three-quarters of the vote. Asheville is ready. Let’s stop giving away money to developers and invest in our city instead.

— Shane McCarthy
Asheville

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

About Letters
We want to hear from you! Send your letters and commentary to letters@mountainx.com

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

5 thoughts on “Letter: Forget developers and use bonds for affordable housing

  1. Enlightened Enigma

    really? Asheville already has MORE public housing per capita than any other city in NC yet only the 7th largest city! How did THAT happen??? We are eaten alive with criminal infested public housing, and a Housing Authority that is the biggest ENEMY of the city!

  2. jason

    Perhaps rent wouldn’t go up 10% each year if we weren’t being taxed more and more every year for property. Of course this will be passed on to renters. The city needs to stay out of the “affordable housing” business.

    • luther blissett

      “if we weren’t being taxed more and more every year for property. ”

      Well, that’s a blatant lie. If you tell blatant lies people tend not to believe you.

      “Of course this will be passed on to renters.”

      Please show your math on the exact cost to renters of “passing on” a property tax increase at current market rates. Somehow I don’t think it comes close to 10%. (Let’s also remember that anybody who whines about property tax increases that come from a higher county assessment would never put that property on the market at its previous assessed value.)

      The city needs to build housing and rent it in order to place it beyond the domain of fly-by-night developers and idle rentier capitalists.

      • indy499

        And why exactly wouldn’t property tax increases be passed along to renters in a market which is very strong from the landlord perspective?

      • Enlightened Enigma

        luther…uhm….county tax appraisal values are NOT equal to market values, unless it is severely undesirable.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.