While I sit languishing on Waiting Lists to move back to an independent living situation,  I have been pondering the question of WHY this housing is in such short supply, because it is clearly desperaately needed.  The problem trickles down to the vast number of immigrants currently being shovelled into Hoovervilles because no housing is available for them either.

Is it really true that there aren't enough housing units available for all these people?  I don't think so.  I think the problem is that since real estate is a For Profit bizness, empty units are not being made available because if the rents are lowered to what people can afford, the assessed value of the property would be lower than the mortgage, which would mean that the banks who hold those mortgages would be insolvent.  So the apartments are not rented, just listed at the unaffordable price they need to be rented at to pay the mortgage.  The bank and the builders do not have to realize the loss as long as they maintain the fiction that the apartment can be rented at the luxury price they projected when they approved the developer's loan to build it 10 or 20 years ago.

If you go on Zillow or Rent.com or Apartments.com, in any neighborhood anywhere there are hundreds of 1 bedroom apartments available at whatever the neighborhood considers "market rate".  So for instance here in Anchorage on Zillow alone there are 207 1-3 bedroom apts listed for between $1-2000/month.  The problem is that the current 1000 or so people on the Shelter waiting list can't afford $1000/mo, many of them have $0 official income, they subsist on food stamps and money earned in the drug trade or pawning stolen good or odd jobs that pay cash.  Even for those who get a SS check or a check from ther native tribe, it's only a few $100s/month.

However, if there are 1000 people with basically $0 in income, there are  10,000 people with income of $1000/mo, which is not sufficient to get approved for an apt that lists at $1500/mo.  Property mgmt companies will not approve you if the rent is more than about 40% of your monthly income.  This class of people is actually huge, because the average SS recipient in Alaska is $1348 for disability and $1614 for retirement.  Since most people in this class also only have SS as their income, you are talking at least half of all retired and disabled people cannot afford market rate rents.  Given the population as a whole is ageing, that's a lot of current Alaska residents.  The same is true for all the people living down n the lower 48.

Quite clearly, something's gotta give here.  I believe this must be declared a National Emergency and Force Majeure implemented over the Real Estate market nationwide.  All properties commercial and residential currently unoccupied should be inventoried and then distributed out with 1 year leases for free.  This will take everyone off the streets immediately.

Once the immediate problem is solved, the long term problem should be addressed.  Since private developers won't build affordable housing, a Goobermint home building company like the WPA should be assigned the resposibility for building single and double occupancy units in every major city equal to or greater than the number of immigrants that city is expected to accept each year.

All these new housing units will be paid for by a wealth tax of 99% on all Billionaires.

The private real estate market will be allowed to adjust down ward once there is free public housing available for everyone.  Insolvent banks will not be bailed out and all their remaining assets taken and their stockholders bankrupted.

Problem solved.  ;D

RE