Marc Elrich doesn’t think there “is demand for market housing.” He’s never going to fix our housing.

[Anonymous]

What Elrich says here is totally insane.

It makes no sense. He doesn’t understand zoning. Or markets. Or housing!

Look, I’m a homeowner. And I am also about as opposed to today’s Republican Party as it is possible to be.

But we have to elect people who understand that both zoning reform and affordable subsidies are needed. The high price of housing is a market problem and it will have to have some market solutions.

That means upzoning everywhere and letting more housing units be built.

[Anonymous]

Elrich is bad for MoCo. Please vote him out.

[Anonymous]

English, you need another hobby. Nobody thinks you're anything other than a shill for developers. What bothers me is the amount of time you spend on social media when you are a Federal employee and should be doing the work you are paid to do, not sit on Twitter.

[Anonymous]

He has fixed it. He's allowed developers to tear down single family housing for townhouses and more condos/apartments. Otherwise, what else do you want him to do without more land?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What Elrich says here is totally insane.

It makes no sense. He doesn’t understand zoning. Or markets. Or housing!

Look, I’m a homeowner. And I am also about as opposed to today’s Republican Party as it is possible to be.

But we have to elect people who understand that both zoning reform and affordable subsidies are needed. The high price of housing is a market problem and it will have to have some market solutions.

That means upzoning everywhere and letting more housing units be built.

Elrich isn't making it up. Developers constantly are telling Planning the same thing. It's OK for developers to say demand is weak but not OK for Elrich? It's either true or developers are lying in their filings. I don't think it's the latter.

To address housing, need more intellectual honesty in this conversation.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't matter if there is demand for low-end housing. There is demand for high-end housing. The profit margins larger on high-end housing, so what motivation exists to serve the low-end market first?

[Anonymous]

MoCos economy is trash. Developers aren't stupid. They don't want to build because there is no economy to support housing demand . Developers don't want to left holding a big bag of excrement.

Also, why must we constantly kowtow to low income interests? If you want to ruin nice areas, importing poverty is the way to do it. You are not entitled to live wherever you want. If you can't afford to live in an area you need to leave for more affordable COL.

[Anonymous]

I think Sesker has the right idea.

https://harpswellstrategies.com/ten-things-i-know-about-the-mo-co-economy-and-you-should-too/

"Our biggest and highest value-add industries aren’t growing very much, and in some cases are shrinking. Among the industries that are performing well are some that really can’t keep growing indefinitely (e.g., manufacturing, government). Countywide, household growth is concentrated at the low-end of the income spectrum. The real estate products (e.g., warehousing, data centers, etc.) that are being built elsewhere aren’t products that are likely to lead to a boom in Montgomery County. What does that leave us with? Strong growth in localized areas can drive revenue increases, economic growth, and lead to increases in property values in surrounding communities. The next big investments that are needed are public sector investments – in infrastructure and community facilities – that change the character of the built environment for the benefit of current residents and workers. Making those public sector investments now will benefit not only the residents and workers of today but will make possible the transformative private sector development projects yet to come. And while it is fair to say that I have clients in White Flint, that isn’t why I am biased – I have been advocating for more investment in White Flint for the better part of 15 years because it is the most logical location for large-scale redevelopment activity in Montgomery County."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MoCos economy is trash. Developers aren't stupid. They don't want to build because there is no economy to support housing demand . Developers don't want to left holding a big bag of excrement.

Also, why must we constantly kowtow to low income interests? If you want to ruin nice areas, importing poverty is the way to do it. You are not entitled to live wherever you want. If you can't afford to live in an area you need to leave for more affordable COL.

I think there is a need for lower income housing because we have a lot of service economy jobs that we depend on to make this area nice to live in. And those jobs don't make a ton of money. People aren't going to commute an hour one way to work a shift at Office Depot. There has to be an appropriate mix, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MoCos economy is trash. Developers aren't stupid. They don't want to build because there is no economy to support housing demand . Developers don't want to left holding a big bag of excrement.

Also, why must we constantly kowtow to low income interests? If you want to ruin nice areas, importing poverty is the way to do it. You are not entitled to live wherever you want. If you can't afford to live in an area you need to leave for more affordable COL.

I would like my kids teachers, emts, firefighters, nurses to live here and not an hour away.

[Anonymous]

The issue is that that price of land in the county has eclipsed the average wage/affordability. We have a lot of rich people in MoCo (as does surrounding counties of the DMV), but also lots of middle and lower income people too. Developers make better profits catering to the wealthier residents, but that market is tapped out. The demand for housing is enormous among lower and middle class residents, yet the speculative prices for land are just too high to cater to that demographic. How do we bridge the gap?

Summary: There is no more cheap land. But we still have insatiable demand among lower and middle-income residents. How do we fix it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MoCos economy is trash. Developers aren't stupid. They don't want to build because there is no economy to support housing demand . Developers don't want to left holding a big bag of excrement.

Also, why must we constantly kowtow to low income interests? If you want to ruin nice areas, importing poverty is the way to do it. You are not entitled to live wherever you want. If you can't afford to live in an area you need to leave for more affordable COL.

I would like my kids teachers, emts, firefighters, nurses to live here and not an hour away.

I would also like all of the people who keep everything going (the people who build things, maintain things, fix things, clean things, and take care of people) to live here and not an hour away.

And I really hope that the "it's ok for poor people to work here, but they should have to live over there" people never, ever complain about traffic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The issue is that that price of land in the county has eclipsed the average wage/affordability. We have a lot of rich people in MoCo (as does surrounding counties of the DMV), but also lots of middle and lower income people too. Developers make better profits catering to the wealthier residents, but that market is tapped out. The demand for housing is enormous among lower and middle class residents, yet the speculative prices for land are just too high to cater to that demographic. How do we bridge the gap?

Summary: There is no more cheap land. But we still have insatiable demand among lower and middle-income residents. How do we fix it?

By enabling more housing to be built, including on land where there already is housing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MoCos economy is trash. Developers aren't stupid. They don't want to build because there is no economy to support housing demand . Developers don't want to left holding a big bag of excrement.

Also, why must we constantly kowtow to low income interests? If you want to ruin nice areas, importing poverty is the way to do it. You are not entitled to live wherever you want. If you can't afford to live in an area you need to leave for more affordable COL.

I would like my kids teachers, emts, firefighters, nurses to live here and not an hour away.

I would consider them middle income. Not lower income. They make over $80,000 at least. And some firefighters make over $200,000 with overtime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is that that price of land in the county has eclipsed the average wage/affordability. We have a lot of rich people in MoCo (as does surrounding counties of the DMV), but also lots of middle and lower income people too. Developers make better profits catering to the wealthier residents, but that market is tapped out. The demand for housing is enormous among lower and middle class residents, yet the speculative prices for land are just too high to cater to that demographic. How do we bridge the gap?

Summary: There is no more cheap land. But we still have insatiable demand among lower and middle-income residents. How do we fix it?

By enabling more housing to be built, including on land where there already is housing.

There's no reason to build low income housing if there is middle class demand.