One man's exclusionary zoning is another man's property rights
/
It’s complicated for libertarians and progressives, for those who wish to live in safe, quiet towns, not so much:
And this:
Vermont liberals want affordable housing in their towns, but not quite there, thank you. And certainly not there! “We must protect the turkey vultures”.
Professor Reynolds seems to at least sympathize with Virginia’s governor’s efforts, calling it “an idea so crazy, it just might work”, but most of his readers’ commenting on the post don’t agree.
I side with the opponents on this issue. While it’s delicious to see the hypocrisy of the left exposed, the real issue, as I see it, is that most of these proposals, like the one that calls for two-family duplexes and 3-story apartment buildings along the Riverside train tracks, constitute a taking of property by the government without compensation. And there’s also the point that bringing poor people into a neighborhood of middle-class strivers (no Section 8 housing in Belle Haven thank you) doesn’t raise the poor, it simply makes their new neighborhood look like their old one. Thomas Sowell pointed out years ago that the first thing blacks and other minorities do when they can scrape together enough money to do so is to flee their crime-ridden, dreadful neighborhoods and get out of town. That’s still a good plan.
One of the commentators on Reynolds’ post writes,
GetOffMyLawn • a few seconds ago
Lived in Chicago for a couple of years and splurged on an apartment right off Michigan Ave near the Hancock. We had Section 8 folks on the first few floors. That’s when I learned that developers get HUD funds for their projects if they include a certain number of “affordable” units. We left Chicago just as the “let’s force neighborhood integration” farce started. Friends who had bought expensive units were now hearing gunshots, experiencing break ins, etc.
We moved to VA. Lived in a great area west of Richmond for many years. It was fabulous and safe. Then affordable housing (apartments) sprung up everywhere. Soon after they decided it would be fantastic to run a bus line from downtown Richmond to the mall. Crime increased. Trash is left all over the bus stops. Homeless now sleep in the doorways of stores. The fabulous mall hides their crime stats and the local news helps them in that.
Now we are in OH. When we again buy, it’s going to be out in the boondocks with minimum lot sizes with no public transportation.