[flickr photo: aznatca68] Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel has announced that he will vacate the rent controlled apartment he has been using as a campaign office. This apartment is just one of four rent controlled apartments he is hoarding in the Lenox Terrace apartment building in … [Read more...]
Congressman Rangel Legally Plunders $30,000/year in Four Rent Controlled Apartments
[update! Rangel Now Only Hoards Three Rent Controlled Apartments] In case you missed it, powerful New York Congressman Charlie Rangel has been hoarding four apartments in Harlem's Lenox Terrace. Coincidently (perhaps not so coincidently) Lennox Terrace is the same building where New York's … [Read more...]
Subsidies and Taxes Favor Owning Over Renting
Paul Krugman asks a question that has been addressed at Market Urbansim: But here’s a question rarely asked, at least in Washington: Why should ever-increasing homeownership be a policy goal? How many people should own homes, anyway? Listening to politicians, you’d think that every family … [Read more...]
Socialist Cities
So, you think the planners in your area are taking something a little too far? Be glad you aren't in Venezuela... I wish I could link to the article by Michael Mehaffy in The Urban Land Institute's May edition of Urban Land titled "Venezuela's New Socialist Cities", but ULI doesn't provide the … [Read more...]
Bush’s “Ownership Society” and Subprime
From Rationalitate - The WaPo finally realizes the root cause of the subprime crisis Agencies like FHA and HUD, and pseudo-private agencies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, were the government's tool to manipulate the market for mortgages, and manipulate it they did: 40% of all mortgages are … [Read more...]
Want Density? Turn the Free Market Loose
Matthew Yglesias - What Price Density The solution, as Ryan Avent says, is to build denser communities. We ought to build more transit infrastructure, of course, but it's cheaper to use what we already have more intensively. And, of course, it's more practical to build new infrastructure if there's … [Read more...]
LA’s New Housing Rules Band-aid the Symptoms, Exacerbate the Problem
LA Times: Los Angeles limits 'mansionization,' downtown hotel conversions Reason: In Soviet Los Angeles, Housing Affordables You! LA's City Council voted unanimously to treat the symptoms of the City's gentrification problem by restricting property owner's right to improve their … [Read more...]
Mortgage-Interest Deduction: The Unseen Costs
In general, I am opposed to just about any tax increase. However, the mortgage interest deduction is one of my least favorite tax breaks. First of all, it's a regressive tax deduction that transfers wealth from renters and businesses to homeowners. Second, it causes home prices to rise relative … [Read more...]