Opinion: The myth of ‘affordable housing’

Lars Larson
The Northwest Nonsense

Single-party rule in Oregon and Washington has thrown away hundreds of millions of dollars in the name of “affordable housing.”

Lars Larson

Last week, the Wall Street Journal confirmed what many of us have warned for years … affordable housing is a crazy, expensive myth.

Private companies build housing in Portland for a price, and the government almost always builds the same thing for twice as much money and then labels it “affordable.”

The so-called “affordable” units now rent for exactly what the private sector apartments go for.

And thousands of the government-subsidized units sit empty and for good reason.

Qualifying to rent one means proving to the government you’re poor enough.

Government agencies like “Home Forward” are especially bad at kicking out the dangerous renters … so your neighbors are often perverts and drug addicts.

At least the private landlords kick out the deadbeats and druggies.

It’s time to shut down these crazy subsidies and then clear out the rules and regulations that make it almost impossible to build.

Other cities in America have done the same, and they end up with abundant apartments and prices that drop to something sensible.