July 31: What we’re reading
Six articles we found interesting this week:
1. We are seeing more articles recently exploring how manufactured homes could help address the housing affordability crisis. Interestingly, while NC State law limits the authority of local governments to regulate the aesthetics of traditional site-built homes, it expressly authorizes local governments to regulate the aesthetics of manufactured housing.
Forbes: As Housing Costs Soar, a Revolution in Affordable Housing
2. As long as Raleigh remains “affordable” relative to other technology hubs, pressure on housing affordability is likely to continue. To have any hope of slowing the rate of housing cost increases, Raleigh needs to continue its regulatory reform efforts, along with working to preserve Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing and land banking.
WRAL TechWire: Study: Raleigh remains a ‘pandemic boom town’ for people looking to relocate
3. Not that Raleigh is remotely similar to New York City in terms of housing affordability, they share at least one thing in common. The housing affordability crisis was decades in the making and will take years to start to turn the tide. New York tried to make apartments affordable. The opposite happened. Stories abound of apartment hunters fighting bidding wars and languishing in hourlong lines for packed open houses. It's a problem decades in the making.
Politico: New York tried to make apartments affordable. The opposite happened
4. The urban economist Jenny Schuetz breaks down America’s housing crises, the policies that could fix them and the politics standing in the way.
New York Times: Why Housing is so Expensive — Especially in Blue States
5. As we have said many times before, the housing affordability crisis is a national (if not international). So, it is unrealistic to expect Raleigh to solve the problem without substantial assistance from the Federal and state government.
Bloomberg: US Housing Affordability Is Set to Drop to 2007 Levels This Year, S&P Says
6. Here is one potential way to address housing affordability-try to build more housing as demand slows.That could slow the rate of price appreciation for housing.But how can cities encourage builders to take on that kind of risk, particularly after the Great Recession?
New York Times: We Need to Keep Building Houses, Even if No One Wants to Buy