Affordable Housing Options

Recently the Daily Texan, the school paper for the University of Texas, reported on city council members and their proposals for improving the affordable housing market. Recently, the city council has taken a great deal of interest in developers who build luxury housing and condo's. Often this choice has been at the expense of working families who are tenants in the buildings these developers would like to eliminate or rebuild.

During a discussion with local residents, the city council members discussed a couple of methods of addressing the current situation. One option they talked about at length was project based housing aid. This is a method that has been examined by many economists in various markets around the country. To date there are only a handful of economists who would encourage such a choice. This method would involve converting unused public owned buildings into public housing developments. This creation of new area's known commonly as “The Projects” is often scrutinized by both the public and the various experts. As these are both income and availability based rental units, there is often little else considered  in the choice of tenants. This has been known to lead to some difficult places to live.

A suggestion made by many as an alternative housing solution is something designed with the tenant in mind. Tenant based housing would grant vouchers to individuals and families for use in any available qualifying rental. This method opens people to find the locations that best suite their needs. This may include looking at something near work, near school, or in the right school district for their family. This gives families the flexibility to chose the best home for them, instead of what is available. This method allows families of all financial situations to mingle, communicate and support one another. The other plus on the side of the tenant based solutions is the fact that it is often more cost effective, particularly for the tax payers who are supporting it.

This is something that can be applied in any area of the country. This encourages growth and investment options in the housing market, which are struggling to make a come back.
 
If there is anything like this in your market, I'd love to hear about it.

Joe

Joe Cline works in Austin Texas Real Estate. If you are looking to buy, sell, or lease Austin Real Estate, it would be my pleasure to help.

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