Pros And Cons Of Allowing Accessory Dwelling Units

It is often easy to castigate large cities or third world countries as failures in the field of affordable housing, yet the crisis, like an invisible cancer, manifests itself in many forms, plaguing both urban and suburban areas. Reformers have wrestled passionately with the issue for centuries, revealing the severity of the situation in an attempt for change, while politicians have only responded with band aid solutions. Unfortunately, the housing crisis easily fades from our memory, replaced by visions of homeless vets, or starving children. Metropolis magazine explains that “…though billions of dollars are spent each year on housing and development programs worldwide, ? At least 1 billion people

affordability in the area and create higher density housing with a planned 2,828 new dwellings. It plans to have diverse housing types for all socio economic groups to prevent exclusion and support the economic and social sustainability of the area.

With only 5% of the housing units being secured by the Housing Authority, specific types of home are limited to families. The average household size is expected to decrease to 2.04 persons by 2014 (Source). 33% of all households are suited for two people and there is a need for those types of units (source). With there being such a high demand for such a household, the downfall is that that small unit homes for two person families

Housing affordability is the relationship between household income and burden of housing costs and is an issue when it prevents population groups from accessing appropriate or secure housing. (3, 4) Australia has seen a severe escalation in rent and house prices that have not been matched by growth of household income. This decline in housing affordability is a result of economic growth, tax incentives for owners and investors, more accessible finance and population growths, which consequently result in an increased demand for housing. (3, 5) Moreover, this is further compounded by land and development limitations that restrict increases in housing

The development of affordable housing results in immediate and long term economic benefits by increasing government and discretionary spending in the local community. The spending increase occurs in several stages: the immediate effects of the actual construction, the secondary effects of housing-cost relief on overburdened families, and the long term effects of increased government spending in the region.

Unfortunately, many of these types of housing options are incredibly subpar to begin with. The memoir The Glass Castle provides many instances of the pitfalls of low income housing options. For example, while living in Welch the Walls family lives in squalor, perpetuating the idea of inadequacy in the housing options that are available for the poor. Despite this, SROs and other forms of low income housing are still invaluable to many urban populations; however, due to gentrification, many of these options are diminishing. “Between 1975 and 1979 San Francisco lost 17.7% of its 32,214 SRO units… Ironically, other units were lost due to government-subsidized legislation which sought to provide housing for low income tenants, but its minimum property standards mandate a separate bathroom and kitchen for each unit, thereby encouraging the conversion of SROs and rooming houses into standard, and unattainable apartments.” (Erikson), this provides us with an excellent example of how urban “improvements”, even if well meaning, can actually be harmful to established populations. Furthermore, “An October 1980 study by the North Market Planning Commission found that 2374 more SRO units had been lost during the moratorium period, many of them converted to tourist hotels and high income housing

Canadians should pay attention to this issue because it directly and indirectly affects everyone, for some beneficial, for others unfortunate. It directly affects working individuals because they pay for pension payments, healthcare, and retirement fees. It also affects the workforce and children in the dependency load because as they retire there will be many job openings. However, the future implications of this problem are that there could be unused buildings that don’t really benefit anyone. My proposed solution would be to build retirement homes that could later be made into apartments, or to increase health care for the

The aim of the City of Sydney Affordable Rental Housing State Environmental Planning Policy Strategy (SEPP) is to protect existing affordable housing and to facilitate ¬¬¬¬¬new affordable housing in the City of Sydney to provide for social, cultural, environmental and economic sustainability. The key of this strategy is to increase the amount of affordable rental housing in the local area to very low, low and moderate income households; protect existing stock of low cost rental accommodation; encourage a diverse range of housing in the local area; and work with other inner Sydney councils to address affordable rental housing at a regional level. According to the SEPP, affordable housing is refers to housing that does not take more than 30% of a very low, low or moderate household’s income. It defines affordable housing as very low income household as

In this area there was gangs and trap houses but now there were small businesses and higher income people who were moving in and changing the neighborhood. Gentrification has happened, is happening or will happen in the United States and it is inevitable due to the government supporting it and the power that money has in these regions. Although gentrification does have some pros, it also has some important cons; the first con is the hidden cost that comes with gentrification, the second con is the rents being raised which leads people to becoming homeless. This paper will show the history, effects, benefits, and solutions like putting limits to when and by how much the rent can be raised so that people don’t become homeless. This is not the right time for gentrification because levels of poverty are high and the amount of people in debt is too much for gentrification to occur at this

“Not in my back yard” (NIMBY) has reached a point in some communities where it’s difficult to put community facilities anywhere. Some cities are responding by encouraging nursing home construction in specific residential areas based upon density bonuses. Density bonuses are granted for projects in which the developer agrees to include a certain number of affordable housing units. For every one unit of affordable housing a developer agrees to build, there’s a greater number of market rate units. Density bonuses vary from project to project.

Inclusionary zoning is a tool to help accomplish affordable housing. The main goal of it is to build a certain percentages of house but to where the houses can be afforded by middle/low income earners. Incentives are provided to act as cost offsets and include density bonuses, tax abatement, and reduced parking charges. Density bonuses motivate developers to have additional units which result in an increased profit margin. On subscription to the inclusionary zoning, benefits accrued eventually lower costs that would have otherwise been charged on the developers. This technique provides a sustainable method of dealing with housing shortage (Dietderich 13). The municipality, however, cannot force developers to set a particular minimum price and therefore the government can only provide incentives to developers to voluntarily provide the units for low-income earners.

The most successful, long term, low-income housing projects are those that use sustainable design and address the social, cultural, and economic needs of residents. Traditionally built low-income housing projects are associated with high crime rates and high mortality rates among the residents who live in them. They do not provide for the needs of residents, resulting in many of the problems these low-income housing projects face today. These problems range from endangerment of human life, psychological afflictions due to the high stresses that are endured by residents, disease epidemics caused by overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions (in combination with a substandard public

What is known about the dearth of inexpensive living spaces in high-cost, heavy populated areas is its scarcity is a function of supply. Demand remains a non-issue for policy makers as demand has

Many advocates and policymakers of housing for the poor believe that to achieve optimal human development of low-income households the location of the housing must be considered as well as the quality of the housing unit (Newman, 2008).

The problems that arise from housing are numerous. Housing takes up more than half of all real property tax. Not only that, it’s also the largest issue in a family’s budget. The federal government spent $38 billion in preferential subsidies and $2 trillion on housing in total in the year 2006. Rigid zoning codes prohibit certain types of housing from being built. This prevents some citizens from being provided with homes that fit their budget and ads to the chronic problem of homelessness our communities face. Too many houses can crowd neighborhoods and make transit difficult. They can also obstruct view and, when foreclosed upon, lead to plummeting property values.