How To Be Both For And Against Affordable Housing
Here in Venice, I love the "progressives" who bought houses here when it was affordable and proclaim themselves to be completely for "affordable housing" -- uh, until someone tries to build it within a mile radius of their house, in which case they squawk like they've been stabbed until the project gets done away with.
I think we've found our Left Coast progressives East Coast compatriot.
Christian Britschgi writes at Reason, "Legislator Who Argues Housing Is a Human Right Also Suing to Stop Affordable Housing in Her District":
Politicians who declare housing a human right rarely include in that a right to actually build housing.Take New York Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou (D-Lower Manhattan) who just co-wrote an op-ed arguing that every New Yorker should be guaranteed a home...
...Awkwardly, Niou is also a plaintiff in a lawsuit against an affordable housing project being built by a coalition of developers, including Habitat for Humanity, in Little Italy. The project, named Haven Green, would add 123 units of affordable senior housing to Niou's district, including 37 units for the formerly homeless.
...So why is she suing to stop it? It's all about the open space.
The Haven Green project will replace the privately managed Elizabeth Street Garden that currently occupies the city-owned site. In March, the garden, and a separate non-profit that advocates for its preservation, filed a lawsuit against the city, arguing that it erred in approving the project without conducting an adequate environmental study.
"While Lower Manhattan is desperately in need of affordable housing, we
cannot pit the need for housing against the need for green space, especially
when so many good alternatives are available," Niou said in a statement.
I lived in Lower Manhattan, and I can count the "good alternatives" on one finger: Living in a raft in the Hudson River.
Britschgi:
Now, one can reasonably argue that open space is a precious commodity in a city, one that needs to be balanced against the need for shelter. But it's hard to argue that while also asserting that housing is also a right that needs to be guaranteed by the government.
If she thinks there is a better solution then the onus is on her to mention it.
NicoleK at May 27, 2021 2:14 AM
"Politicians who declare housing a human right rarely include in that a right to actually build housing."
It seems like it should be odd but it appears to be pretty much universal.
Ben at May 27, 2021 6:57 AM
Lefties love to call things "rights." Usually when they're trampling all over someone else's actual rights.
Lefties say you have a right to not be offended. No, not you, that other person, the intersectional one. And that person has a right, nay a duty, to trample your right to free speech if you offend zim.
Leftie say you have a right to healthcare. Notice it's not a right limited to emergency medical care, but to healthcare overall. That includes wellness, specialists, all the myriad things that make up healthcare today. That means you have a right to the fruits of those healthcare providers' labors and knowledge.
Lefties say you have a right to "affordable" housing, and in any neighborhood you want. That you cannot afford to live in that neighborhood means nothing. Again, you have a right to the fruits of the labors of your neighbors as they pay higher rates so your "affordable" housing could be situated in that neighborhood.
The Bill of Rights enumerated certain rights. Not all the rights a human being may have, but the ones that the government was specifically enjoined from abridging. None of those rights involved a claim on the fruits of another's labors - e.g., you have right to free speech, but not a right to another's megaphone or dais. The only entity whose autonomy was restricted under the Bill of Rights was the government itself. That was the genius of it.
Conan the Grammarian at May 27, 2021 7:27 AM
When you combine a lack of understanding (or denial) of supply and demand with NIMBY with perfectionism, you get an impossible housing situation. In CA they wage war on low quality housing out at the edge of town, citing code violations even when houses are in the county. Building new housing is almost impossible in CA--anyone can sue to stop you, permits take years, and you pay a big tax up front for the priv of building. They want new housing to have solar panels.
In Portland, you must get permission to cut down a tree on your land no matter if it is dangerous because the trees "belong to the people of Portland".
cc at May 27, 2021 7:28 AM
> No, not you, that other person,
> the intersectional one.
Never satisfied.
> Lefties say you have a right to
> "affordable" housing, and in any
> neighborhood you want.
Well, any except that particular one, which happens to be their own.
Crid at May 27, 2021 7:53 AM
Living in a raft in the Hudson River.
Oh, luxury living and a great view of the city? I think there's an extra tax that has to be applied.
I R A Darth Aggie at May 27, 2021 8:20 AM
> an extra tax
Plunging, bird-strike-crippled airliners?
Crid at May 27, 2021 9:03 AM
The solution is to convert the beach houses of Malibu and Del Mar into public housing.
Eminent domain and all that.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at May 28, 2021 4:24 PM
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