I’m changing my mind ‘again’ on trickle down housing.
Augustana did a presentation today to the SF City Council about housing needs in Sioux Falls.
One point the presenter made was that middle income people are actually spending less than the 30% for housing because they are renting more affordable middle income housing which is actually taking affordable rents away from lower income folks.
In other words, just because middle income folks CAN afford a more expensive rental unit, they are still choosing to save money and the lower income housing ISN’T trickling down. I can tell you when I was in my 20’s I didn’t care if I lived in a garbage can. I worked 60 hours a week and all I did at my studio apartment was sh!t, shower and shave (and a little sleep). Not everyone needs a luxurious apartment to get by. There are only a few things in life you have a little control over when it comes to expenses. You can cut back on going out to eat and drink, you can make more affordable food choices, you can limit your gas usage by walking, car pooling, riding bus or biking! You can also rent a lesser apartment to save money, and if I was in my 20’s now, I would probably be living in a mop closet.
I have often wondered why a developer hasn’t found a way to build affordable studio units in Sioux Falls? I would think with Federal Grants, ARPA state money and any possible local tax rebates you could make it work. If I had $26 million I would buy the Bunker Ramp and build a studio apartment building on top of it.
We have a housing crisis mounting, we haven’t seen it yet, but once interest rates drop by the end of 2024 (I think it will be around 3-4%) you will see as people climb out of the Covid hole they are going to start trying to buy 1st time homes (used or tract homes) and better rental units. What they are going to find is that their isn’t anything available, even if you are stinking rich.
There were public traded home builder developers who built whole tract subdivisions in the southwest U.S. up until about 2010. Volume kept the price affordable for the middle class. Sioux Falls zoned them out in favor of just a few custom overpriced developer crooks and insider bankers. End result became inferior substandard housing at ridiculous prices. To late now. There’s not land left. The answer is mobile and RV home encampments out on the prairie. This is Minot. Boom will become bust when nobody can afford to live here. If you’re an upscale doctor or banker, you’ll not want to live here because there’s no service industry. The new principle commerce will be meth and fent dealers whose customers are the children of the affluent. This transpired as a result of local political types getting wealthy from public taxes fraud. You should be Miffed because you got TIFed.
Perhaps, land reform directed at Taupeville might help, or would that be too commie?
“Trickle Down Housing”, is that when you find yourself stuck in a Moscow hotel room with some Russian hookers?…. Oh, and speaking of 45, I miss the good old days, before covid and the orange menace, when my house was worth less, my property taxes were less, and I could take a nice hot shower without bizarre thoughts haunting my mind….