Posted on 02/02/2009 12:33:35 PM PST by Lorianne
Accessory apartments benefit society and the economy, and it's time for tax credits to promote them ___ Twenty years ago, we separately produced publications urging that governments should provide incentives for the creation of accessory apartments (sometimes called "mother-in-law apartments") in owner-occupied housing. Our writings pointed out that there was a shortage of small-unit housing; that household sizes had dropped, rendering many large homes ripe for partial use by renters; that it was irrational to maintain regulations that discouraged extended families from living next to each other; and that Germany, Japan and Finland had provided such incentives as housing policy.
The idea fell on stony soil. Only a handful of wealthy American suburbs then permitted accessory apartments. The political climate was hostile to new federal programs and "tax expenditures." No need was felt to further stimulate housing-related industries.
Today, all has changed. Most municipalities have accessory-apartment ordinances. California, Oregon, Vermont and Washington state, along with most Canadian provinces, require municipalities to consider accessory-apartment ordinances - laws fostered by the AARP. A Montgomery County task force has recommended that they be allowed as of right, as in parts of Arlington, Va., the District of Columbia and Prince George's County.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
Free market bad, regulations good.
What the hell are these authors smoking?
/s
I thought this was about Obomba’s mother-in-law moving into her free apartment at the WH.
Actually, these papers would love nothing more than to have sub-par housing crop up all over. Their opinion of three bedroom homes isn’t exactly what your and mine is. They see those as only fit for multiple family dwellings. Think Doctor Zhivago II.
Or illegal Auntie Zeituni.
zoning tyrant ping
Exactly. And if they can restrict the number and type of truely ‘affordable’ housing, they can create an entier cottage industry for affordable housing and siphon even greater sums off the taxpayer for that.
No, free market solutions are definitely not welcome.
And Granny might be able to provide day care for her grandkids, thus running up against the government's wish to get the kids at the earliest possible age.
We're hoping to do just that when we move to MS. Hubby's older brother is a priest, and having a place for him to 'get away', even for a day, from the Parish and School, would be great for his well-being. And when he retires, it will be a full-time residence for him.
My first apartment out of college was a place like they’re describing. Tiny, but it allowed me to live affordably in the wealthy, pleasant town where I’d found a job - rather than in one of the surrounding slums. Beyond grannies, accessory apartments in nice homes could offer a better quality of life to many people who think they can’t afford to live anywhere but an urban hellhole.
I think they are trying to fit the law to the reality, where millions of homes are de facto subdivided into apartments already. This is a way of life for illlegal aliens, where entire families live in one padlocked bedroom, and share the kitchen and bathrooms. It’s a fast way to turn a suburb into a slum, since the sewage etc was all based on a smaller number of inhabitants.
Oh but, but, but,... the illegal aliens have no impact on our society. And besides, they’ve all gone back to Mexico. /s
BINGO.
Back almost 30 years ago, when I was fighting head to head with the bloodless monsters in social services in my state (I had an organization I named "Families for Freedom" and networked with other groups state and nationwide,) I confiscated a pamphlet that fell fortuitously into my hands at a conference of the state's education dept... In it was this statement: "We must get to the children by age 2 BEFORE THEIR PARENTS HAVE INSTILLED THEIR VALUES IN THEM."
People haven't a clue what Head Start is really about.
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