We’ve been saying it for quite a while now: Raleigh’s filter-down-density policies are not improving housing affordability, but are doing exactly the opposite: New information published by the New York Times shows that Raleigh is rapidly becoming one of the most expensive places to live in the United States. The City’s wishful tagline “More Housing, More Choices” will have to be rewritten: “More Luxury Housing, Fewer Affordable Choices“
The Baldwin Council’s rush to approve highrise towers anywhere in Raleigh without negotiating affordable units in return has caused a developer land rush for rezonings that drive up land prices, and therefore housing prices, across the city as documented in the New York Times article. The Baldwin Council’s insistence on flooding Raleigh with as many market rate and luxury housing units as possible – often by tearing down existing affordable homes and apartments – has only thrown gasoline on the fire of Raleigh’s affordable housing crisis.
In response to Raleigh’s skyrocketing rental rates, up 178%, promoters of filter-down housing affordability admit it may take generations for their housing theories to take effect – if ever. In the meantime, the only winners in this game are developers, corporate real estate speculators and those Councilors who’ve been preaching Raleigh’s housing salvation while corruptly taking record setting developer donations in return for approving luxury highrises that destroy Raleigh’s affordable homes and neighborhoods.
If last November’s Council election sent one message it is this: flooding the market with high-end housing is a disastrous mistake that is destroying Raleigh’s existing affordable homes and neighborhoods and driving modest income families out of town. Now it is up to the post-Baldwin Council to stop the destruction and adopt a new City tagline: More Affordable Housing, More Affordable Choices, along with the policies and funding to back it up.
Livable Raleigh Editorial Team
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