Campbell Housing/Homelessness Q2
The scarcity of affordable housing is in large part due to the add-ons local governments impose on developers, supposedly for the impact the new housing has on the community, but, in many cases, just for revenue purposes. Requiring a much tighter fit between the impact fee assessed and a measure of actual impact would reduce this factor that makes housing more expensive. Government should subsidize rental payments on a sliding income scale. Government should also contract with private builders to construct more housing eligible for the rental subsidies. Towns that are full built-out should be required to make a financial contributon to construction of eligible housing in locations that make sense for the needy populations. Permitting for such construction should be made vastly less cumbersome. Non-profits can also help with subsidizing construction.
