Local Real Estate agent Mark Burns, on X, worries that upcoming regional housing money-grab hasn't learned from costly past mistakes.
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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.
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The 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.
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The 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.
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Word 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.
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SCC Libertarians oppose what they perceive as wasteful regional housing bond and Sunnyvale transfer tax. From their formal statement, below.
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Marin 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.
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Yesterday, 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.
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The 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.
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Cato 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.
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Chris 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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California finance expert Tom Rubin analyzes MTC's proposed $10–20 bn bond measure, which would chuck some greenbacks at jurisdictions in the name of developing/preserving affordable housing. Not only does the measure lack clear performance metrics (um, are we talking 100 or 10,000 units produced?), but it neglects key market problems—suggesting instead we hand gov't (more) cash to figure everything out. An Opp Now exclusive.
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