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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have trouble believing that affordable market rate housing exists one mile on a direct bus line from an area where  $3k is the going rate for a 1 br. I am starting a new job in an area with rents like that and the closest place I could find a 2 bedroom under $2k (for my family, with kids) was 6 miles away and a mile from the closest metro. Rents don't just drop off a cliff in that short a distance.

Also, are you sure those luxury units are taxpayer subsidized? In a lot of cities building a certain % of affordable units is required but the cost is borne by the developer, who makes up for it with the high rents charged for the majority of units. The public does not pay the difference in rents, so it doesn't hurt them.[/quote]

PP here. Yes, there are some relatively modest apartments very close - one large complex is actually only 4 blocks away from the luxury building, and is about three blocks from a bus. And further away - about a mile - there are even cheaper apartments. In fact, we have a subsidized housing complex located less than half-mile from townhouses going for $800k. So expensive and affordable housing does exist in close proximity.

You bring up an interesting point about the developer bearing the costs for the subsidized rental units. It would then be true that the general public, in that instance, does not pay for the subsidized units, but of course the people who live there DO, in terms of higher rents to "make up the difference." But....their choice to live there.

It also works the other way, though, with taxpayers supporting the subsidies. Perhaps it's the difference between rental units and homes for sale. I recall a large luxury townhouse community, maybe a year ago or more, with new sales going for $800k. These homes were gorgeous - granite kitchens, hardwood flooring, the works. There were a certain percentage set aside for modest earners, with the price being $150k. In that case, the county made up the $650k difference to the developers (which of course is borne by the taxpayers). There was quite a "to-do" about this, as local residents who bought more affordable townhouses they could afford felt, rightly IMO, that they were being asked to help people earning less buy luxury townhouses they themselves could not afford. (I don't recall how that ended.) [/quote]

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