• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Prosperous Places

A Practical Guide to Successful Community & Economic Development

  • Home
  • About
    • About
    • Partners
    • Affiliates
  • Blog
  • Let’s Chat
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Visit Janus Institute
    • Visit Rock Paper Scissors

Housing as Economic Development Policy

You are here: Home / 5 P's / Housing as Economic Development Policy

5 P's, Economic Development, Product · August 7, 2019

By Robert Pittman, Executive Director, Janus Institute

Vintage American Dream - Carving a TurkeyIn post-war America, perhaps no image illustrated economic progress more than a comfortable single-family house on a tree-lined street – complete with a car (or two) in every driveway and a chicken in every pot. The Federal Government made every effort to encourage this American Dream through favorable mortgage and tax policies. But things sure have changed in today’s world. Because of high land and infrastructure costs, some cities across the country are actively discouraging single-family housing development, and tremendous resources are being put into finding new alternative modes of transportation. A chicken in every pot, however, still remains a desirable goal, as long as it was not fed any GMO products. 

Reports on the lack of available and affordable housing in places like the San Francisco Bay area and the Northeast are common. In these markets, extremely high-income buyers can bid the price of older 1,500 square foot ranch houses into the millions of dollars. Housing availability and affordability is a problem in many less-affluent urban and rural areas as well. A recent article in the National Real Estate Investor points out that the housing needs of two subsets of the population have been addressed in the US.¹ The private sector has provided housing for those earning more than 100 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI) and government programs such as Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and Section 8 have helped provide housing for those earning less than 60 percent of the AMI. 

Affordable Housing - The Income Classes

But what about the population in the middle – those earning between 60 and 100 percent of the AMI where so many production workers, healthcare workers, teachers, etc. fall? Private developers and government programs are not necessarily addressing their needs. This is clearly a community development problem, but it is also an economic development problem. High housing prices can discourage workers from living in an area and cause upward wage pressure for employers. As pointed out in the Chicken vs. Egg Redux blog, in today’s strong economy the location decisions of many companies can be more strongly driven by availability of labor. Increasing the quantity and quality of the local labor force has become a priority economic development strategy for many communities. If housing helps accomplish that result, then housing also becomes a priority economic development strategy. 

"...affordable housing can influence the supply and cost of labor in the area..."Skeptics of government involvement in any market might say that if there is a need for more affordable housing in an area the private sector will respond. While a private-sector solution may be preferred, in many areas there are issues of building trades capabilities, available land, zoning, permitting and other potential impediments to housing development. Furthermore, since affordable housing can influence the supply and cost of labor in an area, it should be considered part of a community “development ready” strategy. Subsidized industrial land and buildings, labor training, financial incentives and the like are common practice, so why shouldn’t housing policy be in the economic development tool kit as well? 

Teton County, WYTeton County, Wyoming provides an example of a community addressing the issue of available and affordable housing impacting the local labor supply.² A survey of local employees showed that 21 percent of respondents were actively considering leaving their jobs and moving because of the lack of viable housing options. The County created an Affordable Housing Department to address any government policies such as zoning and permitting that might be negatively influencing housing cost and development. The Department also works with private developers to identify available and reasonably priced land for housing. In some cases, this land may be publicly owned which allows the option of government subsidies to stimulate supply. 

Modern American DreamWhat is the housing situation in your community? Do you believe that the lack of readily available and affordable housing for low to moderate earners or perhaps even higher earners is an economic development liability? If so, an assessment of the problem and a plan to address it should be a high priority. If you don’t perceive a problem now, then perhaps the modification of an old adage applies to your community: “If it ain’t broke, sooner or later it will be so you’d better figure out how you’re going fix it now.” Put another way, to help ensure that local residents can afford the chicken and the pot, communities should help ensure an adequate supply of affordable housing.

Let's Discuss... Banner

  1. Does your community address the issue of affordable housing? In what ways? 
  2. Have you seen successful affordable housing policies in other communities?

We look forward to your input. Have some thoughts to the questions and content above? Feel free to post them in the comments below. 

Sources:

¹https://www.nreionline.com/multifamily/how-public-private-partnerships-may-provide-solution-affordable-housing-crisis

²https://www.naco.org/resources/featured/access-housing-supporting-county-workers-through-affordable-homes

60

SHARES
facebook Share on Facebook
Twitter Tweet
Follow Follow us
custom Share
custom Share
custom Share
custom Share
custom Share

Filed Under: 5 P's, Economic Development, Product Tagged With: affordable housing, building communities, community development, economic development

Previous Post: « Workforce Development That WORKS!
Next Post: Resolving Political Division Begins with Community »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Remote Work Communities: A New Economic Development Opportunity
  • Economic Development in the New Normal
  • Tourism After COVID-19: Attracting Guests in a New Reality
  • The COVID-19 Crisis: How Can the Economic Development Community Respond?
  • Resolving Political Division Begins with Community

Join the Conversation

  • водопады по стеклу, пузырьковые панели.
  • аквариумы из оргстекла на заказ, аквариумы.
  • Hello world

SIGN UP FOR UPDATES

Janus Institute

Visit the Janus Institute

Rock Paper Scissors Logo

Visit Rock Paper Scissors

Latest Blogs

Tourism After COVID-19

Tourism After COVID-19: Attracting Guests in a New Reality

Summary Introduction Robert Pittman, Founder and Executive Director of the Janus Institute Tourism is a very important industry for many communities (sometimes the largest) but often it is not recognized as such because the impact is spread over different industries: retail, restaurant, lodging and related industries.  The COVID-19 crisis poses a special challenge for tourism…

COVID-19 and the Economic Development Community

The COVID-19 Crisis: How Can the Economic Development Community Respond?

Summary Sponsors and Moderators Robert Pittman, Founder and Executive Director, Janus Institute Amanda Sutt, Creative Director and CEO, Rock Paper Scissors Panelists Ron Starner, Executive Vice President, Conway, Inc. and Publisher of Site Selection magazine  Rope Roberts, Community Development Manager, Georgia Power Invited panelist Wiley Blankenship, President/CEO of Coastal Alabama Partnership was called into meetings…

Resolving Political Division Feature Image

Resolving Political Division Begins with Community

By Robert H. Pittman, Executive Director and Founder, Janus Institute For those who still may not understand that our country faces significant and perhaps unprecedented political divisions, a quick scan of the news will educate them quickly. It is often hard to tell if you are reading a news article or an editorial when so…

Footer

Contact Us

Stay in Touch With Us

Site Map

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Let’s Chat
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Connect with Us

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Our Partners

Sign Up for Updates

Copyright © 2021 · Showcase Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in