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Description: Newton Nonprofit Feeling Foreclosure Crunch
URL: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/15332454/detail.html
Info/Broken?: http://www.bostonbubble.com/link_info.php?id=1481

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[Phil O. Math]

OMG, what a cluster! They spent $5M on building just 11 houses?? Almost a half-million per house?? Whose idea was that?? What a waste of charitable donations.

They misunderstand the fundamental solution to housing unaffordability, as obvious as it should be: prices are too high. Adding 11 houses in Newton does absolutely NOTHING to address housing affordability.

Prices must come down - not just for 7 lucky lottery winners but for everyone. Sorry, but that's the way it has to be. Everyone, that's you and you and you too will have to deal with the idea of losing some of the unearned equity that is in your home so that all of us can have a decent standard of living.

Byzantine development regulations, rampant speculation, mortgage fraud, appraisal fraud, poor mortgage underwriting, irresponsibly low interest rates, among other things have produced this bubble. Spend your money lobbying all levels of government to get rid of these machinations and you will be doing a much greater service to those of us who are under-housed in the Boston area.

[john p]

I totally, totally agree. Mass Housing and Chapt. 40B spend thousands and thousands on these token projects when the whole water table needs to lower.

Here was my plan:

Massachusetts has an adequate supply of starter homes. These homes were built after WWII for the GI''s coming home. There are tons of these homes already built. The reason why no real bonefide starter home was built after 1985 within the 128 belt is because plenty already existed and the focus on new construction was the growing family not the starters. The problem is that these existing starter homes are unaffordable to the typical young family. So instead of focusing on making them affordable, they decide to add "affordable" units 30-50 miles from Boston; typical government.

What they need to do is loosen up starter homes within the 128 Belt which would also help aleviate traffic congestion. They need to promote the construction of over 55 housing outside the 495 Belt. The goal is not to force elderly from their homes, but to create an option for those that wanted to move but wanted to stay within the State. If even a small percentage decided to move away, it would increase the supply of affordable homes within the 128 Belt. They need to create a magnet away from the City for elderly to loosen up supply. Lots of elderly would love to move out to the peace and quiet and still be able to visit their grankids, so I think the demand would be there.

Our government is filled with bottom feeders who are more focused on getting chairmanships to boards and getting their friends patronage jobs and the kickbacks that go along with them. We have no leaders, leaders who actually look ahead at the obvious problems lying ahead. They are too busy with their snouts in the trough like little piggies.