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Missing Middle Multifamily Is Just a Land Grab

A perspective from Randall Barrow

 

If all of this “gentle density” is not “100% Affordable Housing” — FOREVER, then I say scrap the whole thing and go away. It’s just a land grab, not a solution to the problem. Workforce housing for families and other workers is the only priority. UNC should take care of their undergrad problem children and leave the regular housing for the grownups.

I am an “all or nothing” sort of person and this whole thing just stinks on ice unless it is 100% affordable forever. Otherwise, it’s just unfettered greed as usual. The developers pay lip service to “affordable” (payment-in-lieu) —NOT affordable, just a bribe to get out of doing the right thing. If they bother to build a couple of units here and there they can say “look how great we are”. Bah, humbug!  I’ve never heard of an “altruistic” commercial developer, because NONE of them will ever do anything for good, just profit. Period. So don’t kid yourself into thinking that they will do “100% affordable forever”. It’s all a big freaking lie.

If you build the following sizes of buildings:

Duplex – you can expect, let’s say 8 people, 8 cars (4 for each unit)

Triplex – you can expect, let’s say 12 people, 12 cars (4 for each unit)

Quadplex – you can expect, let’s say 16 people, 16 cars (4 for each unit)

And so on…but that doesn’t include when their partners stay over, so the math just gets exponentially worse.

Of course, if it actually were families, the vehicle and body counts might be less impactful. But you know as well as I do this is just going to be more frat house nonsense, not families. So your desire for “inclusive, wholesome, welcoming…blah, blah, blah” is nice as a platitude, but the reality is something less pleasant. Unless we force the developers and the town and UNC to do the right thing, THEY NEVER WILL.

What is the mad rush to get this all done? I am not the least bit concerned about property values going down, unlike so many.  No, my issue is quite the opposite.  If property values go up, then the property taxes will too.  As someone living without any portfolio, retirement plan or anything other than an old house (not an investment) and a savings account, I must work until I die. It’s just that simple, so the threat to me is real and personal.

I am not the only one that has found the true intent of this well marketed, but seriously flawed corporate giveaway. It is everywhere, and reeks of a cabal of corporate insiders working behind the scenes to sell this bill of goods to the public as if it were a wonderfully benign thing to be admired. In reality it is just the latest in a succession of money making schemes and market manipulations. Remember the “housing bubble” or credit default swaps? How about WorldCom, Stratton Oakmont, Financial Advisory Consultants, Bre-X Minerals, Bayou Hedge Fund Group, Qwest Communications International, ZZZZ Best Inc., Enron, or Bernard L. Madoff? This is just more of the same.  Open your eyes folks, and educate yourselves to the reality that is “just behind the curtain”.

Listed below are some interesting articles from outside the area relating to affordable housing, corporate (AirBnB,etc) created housing shortages  and zoning, “missing middle”, “complete communities”, fighting corporate greed and just how global this problem has become:

“AFFORDABLE HOUSING” IS A SCAM!

AirBnB and all STRs (short term rentals)
(to AirBnB users)

The Gaslighting of Single-Family Zoning

Opinion: Here’s how we can help families, not corporations, buy single-family homes

Rep. Smith Introduces the Saving Homes from Acquisition by Private Equity Act to Combat Nationwide Housing Crisis

Housing is both a human right and a profitable asset, and that’s the problem

Is Single-Family Zoning racist, and does it matter?

Biden is Doubling Down on a Push to Roll Back Single-Family Zoning Laws

Complete Communities: Scourge or Savior?

Trickle-Down Housing is a Failure. Here’s What You Need to Know.

Inside Game: California YIMBY, Scott Wiener, and Big Tech’s Troubling Housing Push

Rents Rising Fastest Among Low-End Apartments

RealPage Scandal Widens, Big Tech Firm and Corporate Landlords Slapped with Another Lawsuit

https://shelterforce.org/2022/08/30/hands-off-the-houses-can-we-stop-speculative-land-grabs/

https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/land-grab-the-new-hot-spots-luring-home-developers-and-buyers/

Billionaire landlord Sam Zell is the personification of corporate greed.

Meet the Villains of Big Real Estate

This is a worldwide issue as seen in the next three items:

Introduction to investing in the ‘missing middle’ and workforce housing

In this lovely example we learn that we are nothing more than an “asset class”.

Greed: How Economic Selfishness Harms Us All

“Missing Middle Multifamily” is an “asset class” and a land grab with NO concern for affordable housing. It is literally the definition of a cult and the epitome of corporate and individual greed. Isn’t it nice to be thought of as nothing more than an investment opportunity? A commodity? Just plain expendable cannon fodder in a class war? The real shame is that this isn’t about affordable housing, but just more greed.

“Viewpoints” on Chapelboro is a recurring series of community-submitted opinion columns. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work or reporting of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com.

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