Reply to Is there a coherent argument that loosening zoning laws will lead to affordable housing in DC?

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[quote=Anonymous]I am the public finance lawyer poster on this thread who’s posted a few times.  There is an article in the WaPo today re affordable housing programs and the effects they can have on families that are very hard to quantitatively state.  In this article, a formerly homeless family received qualified for a transitional housing program that allowed the children more stability and the tween girl had extremely positive changes (better grades, more friends, positive extracurricular activity, increased happiness).  These are huge and very important positives things society needs for young adolescents to help them on a positive path in life, all of which decrease this child and other children’s risk of alcohol or drug abuse, teen pregnancy, Suicide/ depression, dropping out of high school, becoming incarcerated.  But the transitional housing program has strict limitations and no safety net to help these people achieve permanent housing so when the parent, who was doing everything she was supposed to do, made “too much money” she was kicked out of the program and faced being homeless again.  The mother could not find another apartment in the same school district or anywhere in DC for which she qualified or that she could afford.  So the family could only find one in PG County, and the poor tween will have to switch schools, lose her friends, her teachers, her extracurricular and start all over, again.

These are important stories to read, they put real people in real circumstances in your head.  Changing single family zoning will not help these people.  These are the people that need more affordable housing, these are the people on the brink of homelessness, who fall in the repeated cycle of never getting ahead.  It’s not against the law to be poor.  But we should be honest what affordable housing really is and not just claim to be progressive and liberal all while washing our hands and minds of true housing problems.  These are your janitors, your health care aids, your food service workers, etc.  Who literally have no where to live. Who have families.  These are the people we need to worry about, and their children who will one day grow up.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/an-11-year-old-uprooted-from-a-gentrifying-city-sometimes-moms-cant-afford-things/2020/01/13/d5219068-32f6-11ea-91fd-82d4e04a3fac_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-low_kamiyah-1130am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans[/quote]

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