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Key:
Black is reporting.
Red is sarcastic commentary – for those who do not quite grasp the limitations of reality.
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As if they didn’t know already, Asheville’s Affordable Housing Advisory Committee conducted a survey to find out why developers weren’t building enough affordable housing. A good summary of findings was published in the Mountain Xpress.

One prohibitive factor was land cost. To remediate the problem, it was suggested that government buy up properties for affordable housing. It is, after all, a known fact that middlemen; particularly those without competition, drive down prices.

Another problem was that developers weren’t getting enough grant money from the city. There was the perception that certain “groups” hog all the money. That is not true. Just because every grant goes to MHO could be indicative of something else, like maybe you need to brush your teeth or something. More importantly, it is good we have so much regulation that developers cannot meet demand without government assistance.

Other developers whined there was a cost of compliance driving up price points. Oh, come on. Those extra driveways, extra trees, paved-over foundations, stupid pedestrian-interacting fenestrations, and all have a way of extracting gold out of the aether for to land in greedy developers’ pockets. In a similar vein, nobody should be allowed to complete the hoop-jumping course without at least one approval expiring.

Some thought running more buses would lower the cost of housing. The way that works is the city gets to raise property taxes so those paying for their own leaky whatnot overhead get the rent jacked up.

All in all, though, I commend the advisory committee for shining a light on some of the counterindicative social remedies the city is pursuing.