affordable

  I was listening to the politicians promising affordable housing. This housing would be available to everyone that met the income requirements, IE: a lack of income. The government sure has a wide range when it comes to income thresholds. The level for "poverty" for a two person family is 20,782 dollars. If both people worked for minimum wage their combined wages after taxes for a year would be about 32,000. That's 50% greater than the poverty level. To qualify for affordable housing your income generally needs to fall below 80% of the median income for your area. According to the latest government census the average median income in America is 80,610.  So that means if you make 63,681.90 you qualify for affordable housing. To earn that I need to earn $30.29 an hour. I don't know what others make but it sure seems to me a whole lot of folks would qualify for this affordable housing. So I'm left with a question, just what is going on here? 

  Well the first thing we need to understand is just what affordable housing is. The narrative is a home you can afford. That isn't what the deal really is however. It is housing where in exchange for your labor or money, you can live. This housing will not in the same area as those providing you with that housing, not with those that do not qualify, but tucked away somewhere in a less desirable location. That is by design. The land being cheaper there being the top priority. A larger profit margin is obtainable in that fashion. The politicians promising you affordable housing using the taxes they collected from you to finance that deal. Those politicians are concerned about you. They need you to be available to do the work and cast your ballot. If you can't afford to live there, you will leave there. It is a sort of quid pro quo situation. 

  Housing has always been an issue. Back in the beginning of this country you could simply build your own housing with little interference from the government. All you really needed to obtain was the land upon which to build it. That was the first restriction, the first interference from government agencies. Original land grants were the top priority for those settling our cities and towns. Those folks did receive the choiciest pieces by virtue of being there first. Those coming later had to settle for the outskirts of town. Those outskirts grew larger and larger. Then government decided to add restrictions, called codes, to the building of your home. As with most everything the government does, it was for your own good! You can't just build that any old way you want, you have to comply with these standards. It is in the best interest of public safety! 

  Following the civil war and the abolishment of slavery housing was required for all those freed. The original plan was to award each family forty acres of land upon which to build their homes and establish a farm or whatever. With the assassination of Lincoln that was quickly rescinded. So where were those freed people to live? The sharecropper was born. It was "affordable" housing in exchange for labor and a small stipend. What choice did most have? Then the promise of higher wages and indoor working conditions beckoned those to the industrial areas. Affordable housing was provided by those companies, for a portion of that pay. They became known as tenements. The focus was on profit, not comfort. Remember when the Indians were displaced. Their affordable housing was a reservation. At first they just took their teepees. Then shacks began to appear. The government was there to help! To provide that affordable housing. 

  Not much has changed. Today all this affordable housing you hear about is the same thing. A condo, an apartment complex, a townhouse or a single family home provided by a group that requires your labor. They don't want you living next door, they just want you to be available whenever you are needed. Those same folks will raise your taxes to pay for that. But they have you over the proverbial barrel don't they? You have been regulated out of any other choice. You are the low income people. I haven't done any big research paper on any of this, no government funded study, but my feeling is this. If you examine all of that closely you will see that wages are always far lower than housing costs. The government, those legislating things, have always ensured that will be the case. And it has always been, for your own good. It's the only way. 

  What is your largest expense? It was and continues to be a home. The median price for a three bedroom home today is 400,000 dollars. That's $192 an hour for a year. If you obtained a good rate, say 6%, your monthly payment will be about $2398.00 a month. That's fifteen dollars and 58 cents an hour just for that payment. That's just not affordable for most of us now is it. For housing to be considered affordable, by government standards, the rent/mortgagee should not exceed 30% of your gross income. If you are making that $400,000 that means you should be paying no more than $1200 a month. But don't worry, the government is here to help. We will provide affordable housing, all that is required is you pay for it. See how that works? 

                                                                            

                                              Welcome home ( this is a low income housing area)