Comments on: Just How Regressive is America’s Federal Housing Policy?

By: archie

archie — Wed, 26 May 2010 02:05:13 +0000

Based soley on anecdotal evidence, I’ve always thought that more homeowners usually means more people in debt, and more people in debt might mean a more productive populace since they have to keep a job to keep paying the mortgage. I’m not convinced such a regressive system as talked about in this article is worth the tradeoff though.

By: George

George — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:46:25 +0000

It’s a stupid article, Placemaker. The thesis only works if you consider Asians and Hispanics as White.

By: awp

awp — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:11:26 +0000

I always thought and heard that the largest subsidy for homeowners was lack of taxation on the implicit rent a homeowner is paying himself. If you rent that rent check is somebody elses income and thus part of their income tax bill is going to fall on the renter.

By: Placemaking Institute

Placemaking Institute — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:58:18 +0000

I came across the following, which I found to be thought provoking and inducive to generating commentary: “If you take away the dominant Tier One cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles – places no one expects the average U.S. city to be able to imitate – you will find that the “progressive” cities aren’t red or blue, but another color entirely: white. In fact, not one of these “progressive” cities even reaches the national average for percentage of African-Americans in its core county. Perhaps not progressiveness but whiteness is the defining characteristic of the group. The progressive paragon of Portland is the whitest on the list, with an African-American population less than half the national average. It is America’s ultimate White City. The contrast with other, supposedly less advanced cities is stark…Many of the policies of Portland are not that dissimilar from those of upscale suburbs in their effects. Urban growth boundaries raise land prices and render housing less affordable exactly the same as large lot zoning and building codes that mandate brick and other expensive materials do. They both contribute to reducing housing affordability for historically disadvantaged communities. Just like the most exclusive suburbs.”(i)

(i) http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/points/stories/DN-renn_22edi.State.Edition1.1691580.html