To nobody’s surprise, the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority, an outgrowth of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, agreed on Wednesday morning to put a $20 billion regional bond on the November ballot in nine counties. But opponents of the mammoth tax offered a serious, compelling critique. Will Sherman reports in this Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreCharter cities are obliged to prioritize spending on core services, as identified in their charter. So why, Tobin Gilman wonders on Medium, is the city asking residents to cough up extra for yet another parcel tax to take care of a core service--the city's parks?
Read MoreThe November ballot is expected to include a $20 billion (!) affordable housing bond measure proposed by the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority. Marc Joffe at Cato Institute argues in the Merc that the initiative's reliance on increasing property taxes to subsidize new housing is wrong-headed and misguided.
Read MoreThe inability of supporters to explain even the most basic elements of the colossal proposed regional housing snatch has community leaders throwing red flags. Elaine Goodman at the Palo Alto Daily Post explores.
Read MoreWord is starting to spread across the whole Bay Area about the misguided and mammoth regional housing tax that will be on the November ballot. And the initiative's deep flaws are getting daylighted in city after city. The result? New, unexpected ideas are getting voiced. Thomas Busse writes in the SF Chron.
Read MoreSCC Libertarians oppose what they perceive as wasteful regional housing bond and Sunnyvale transfer tax. From their formal statement, below.
Read MoreMarin County community and tax authorities express serious concerns that monies generated by huge regional tax won't be seen by the cities that pay for them--and that the whole regional bill may run counter to popular will in particular counties. Marin Independent Journal reports.
Read MoreYesterday, SJ City Council agreed to endorse a $20bn (!) regional housing bond tax, the lion's share of which will go towards subsidized, deed-restricted housing. Howard Husock at City Journal explains why this is throwing (lots of) good money after bad, as subsidized housing is just an economically illiterate approach.
Read MoreThe Metropolitan Planning Commission's proposed bond, which would dump $10–20 bn across the state for nebulous “affordable housing” purposes, has been criticized by finance and policy professionals for being vague and misguided. Silicon Valley Business Journal recently published effusive laudation of the bond, dubbing it a “vital lifeline”—but gov't finance consultant Tom Rubin begs to differ. His Opp Now exclusive breakdown below.
Read MoreAfter being shown SJ's latest Community Plan to End Homelessness report on 1.9, Councilmembers Bien Doan and Arjun Batra pulled no punches in critiquing its ever-mounting costs, lack of a stable funding source (read: unless we pass a $10–20 bn bond), and ridiculously unfeasible goals for housing. Their comments—earnest, frank, and thoughtful—excerpted below.
Read MoreCato Institute's state policy expert Marc Joffe is dubious about Metropolitan Transportation Commission's slated $10-20 bn “affordable housing” bond. Due to the proposal's fuzzy verbage, it's unclear just how much taxpayers would fork over—and how many housing units would get produced (and when?). An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreChris Robell, retired CFO and advocate for clear and lawful ballot questions (follow his San Mateo County school bond lawsuit here), dissects the pros, cons, and glaring empty spaces of the MTC's $10–20 billion housing bond, to be gleaned via serious property tax hikes. An Opp Now exclusive.
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