Affordability in Housing Needs Balancing
Personal points on Boston Sunday Globe “Housing Crisis”
America was founded on a Balance of Powers in government. Money is power to most people, and also needs balancing at every level: Personally, Family, Businesses, City, State, Nationally and the Whole World. Balancing is never an end goal. It is always a process: in our checkbooks, in our businesses, in our communities, in our nations, and in our world.
Desires and needs of each and all should never be an end goal. They need continual balancing, as each and all grow and evolve. This is what needs to happen for affordability in housing and to solve other social problems. There are many sides to a social problem that must be considered. And every “side” must sacrifice a little in balancing the larger whole.
In my point of Balancing, I am listing separately Problems, and Possible Answers — from the Boston Sunday Globe, Oct. 22, 2023, their excellent articles in the “Housing Crisis”. I had to abstract the points for simplicity and clarity.
Problems in Affordable Housing:
1. “Beyond the Gilded Gate … Subversion of Law in [Milton], an affluent Boston suburb.”
2. “[Dislike] of higher, denser housing”
3. “Fear of more permissive zoning, forever changing prosperous town of single-family housing.” … “Restrictive single-family zoning rules.”
4. “Single-family home prices: Massachusetts highest in the country … Median price in Boston is $910,000, zoning out modest incomes”
5. “Collision between availability and affordability”, said Gov. Baker.
6. “Multi-million-dollar homes on land meant for poor.”
7. “No one wants to sell a home right now — leaving little for prospective home buyers.”
Some Possible Answers:
1. “Multi-family Housing, Cambridge”
2. “Millionaires tax proposed on home sales over $1 Million. … “Housing crisis … a matter of who pays”
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Unfortunately, I am part of the problem right now. (#7) I bought my home in 1977, after selling my small business, and buying the house fully with my business profits. I, then, went into some teaching, and a lot of volunteer work. Now, I am 90 years old, and a “low-income senior”, and cannot afford to sell my home. My family and friends are mostly gone, so nowhere else to go. With little from Social Security, I do take a deferment on property taxes, so I am living OK.
Regarding zoning problems, I tried to make my house into a 2-family, because I felt then, in the 1980s, that I wanted to help in the housing problems. Even though I had plenty of space and an ideal, efficient way to make it 2-family, the Zoning Law said no, even though there were some other 2-family houses on my street.
Is there some hope? I do see some hope in Generation Z, wo seem to advocate for balancing in some areas of social life. Most generations before them, seem take sides on advocacy. If anything does happen, I do not expect to see it before passing on.
I hope, by abstracting and simplifying the problems in affordable housing, it might give my readers a better way to. Think about social problems.
Thank you for reading.
