Many New "Unaffordable Apartments" Coming Online

Americans are not only seeing, but constantly being reminded a slew of new apartments are about to come online. Most people hope this will help alleviate the country's housing problem. What they do not tell you is that most people can't afford them. My frustration with America's housing policy boiled over when I read a piece about how roughly 80% of new apartment construction was for the high-end luxury market. This will do little to address the issue of housing affordability or homelessness. 

 

Homelessness has been rising since 2017. At the end of last year, NPR reported that homelessness in America spiked in 2023, reaching a record high. A report, released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, found more than 650,000 people were living in shelters, outside in tents, or in cars. This is an increase of 12% from the year before and is happening even while unemployment is very low. "We simply don't have enough homes that people can afford," says Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

 

When it comes to the category of affordable housing, not a whole lot of help is on the way. All this highlights the fact the government tends to muck up everything it touches. The housing issue is something that impacts all of us. People have an interesting relationship with their homes, often it is more than just a place to sleep. Housing is a complex issue and its future is not set in stone. How we manage housing greatly impacts society.

 

In America, the government, coupled with a slew of builder and Realtor associations controls the housing narrative. They convey to us when things are in a buying frenzy, just who is buying these houses and why. It is important to remember these groups have an agenda that often makes it difficult to get a clear picture of what is really unfolding.

 

Ultimately the higher cost of taxes, local fees, utilities, insurance, maintenance costs, general labor, and just about everything flows into the housing market. Other factors such as interest rates, availability of long term money, and regulations act as additional barriers to buying residential properties. This intersects with huge companies with cheap Wall Street funding entering the residential market in recent years and buying up whole subdivisions. This has driven up the prices of housing in several areas. 

 

Returning to the subject of affordability, much has been written about the failure of rent controls and how they have proven detrimental to controlling rents in tight housing markets. It should be noted that the same could be said about how the government's efforts to protect renters from eviction often result in unintended consequences. In short, it means far higher rents for the rest of the renting population.

 

One thing that is clear is that we have witnessed a growing part of our population slipping into homelessness. Many of these people have resorted to living in their vehicle if they have one, or on the street or under a bridge. This trend, as well as the causes behind it, are well documented and have been reported by almost every respected news outlet.

 

One of the main factors driving this trend is often overlooked, and that is our government. The government holds huge responsibility for a rising share of our housing problems in low-income situations because its policies avoid dealing with the growing number of tenants who are irresponsible. Government housing cherry-picks the best of the low-income renters providing them with very low rents and nice apartments and dumps the rest on the private sector.  

 

By bending over backward to "protect the consumer" the government and courts are creating an army of irresponsible people who go through life exploiting loopholes in the system.

The Fact Is Lazy, Dirty, Undisciplined People Make Many Of Their Own Problems

This even goes as far as making it much harder to check the credit of someone wanting to rent to protect a person's privacy, cast aside is the fact those of us renting an expensive piece of property are putting themselves at great financial risk. Landlords find their claims are usually pursued and disputed in the small claims division of the court where getting an eviction or judgment against a bad tenant has become increasingly time-consuming and expensive. 

Adding to this ugly reality are limits often in place that mean only a fraction of their loss will be covered, these can be as low as $1,500. It is not difficult for unpaid rent and damages to greatly exceed this amount. It must be noted that getting a judgment in your favor does not mean it will ever be paid and that these people continue to move from place to place causing havoc wherever they go.

It is very possible the best way to address or level the playing field would be to move away from public housing and give those needing housing aid "rent-only vouchers" that could be used with any landlord. This would immediately bring more small landlords from the private sector into the game. In a world where supply and demand feed into determining prices, it is logical this would make housing less expensive.

 

Placing those renters with the least problems into quasi-government projects and burdening the private sector with the "most troubled" is not the answer to easing homelessness. To make matters worse, a slew of mandates are then placed upon this sector dictating what constitutes things such as minimum housing standards while limits are slapped upon recouping losses incurred from damages or non-paid rent. 

 

This is the major reason so many houses in America sit empty or underutilized. Under current conditions, the owners of many housing units would rather let them sit empty than deal with or risk what happens when they are put up for rent. Being a landlord is not as much fun as some people think in a society where responsibility is growing into a rare trait.

 

 

(Republishing of this article welcomed with reference to Bruce Wilds/AdvancingTime Blog)