In this link from 2019, the MoCo council passed a law allowing more ADUs (accessory dwelling units-apartments) in basements or yards of single family homes.
Commenter Kabardino Balkaria (same person as @301lezginka on twitter (formerly @MoCoMillenial on twitter) opposed the law by having County Executive Marc Elrich's back in the 'comment wars' also pasted below.
Kabardino Balkaria could have been
letting the perfect be the enemy of the good by pointing out the
stormwater runoff and traffic problems from ADUs having off street
(bigger driveway) parking.
There is no "me and Elrich" unless you can cite where he is advocating
for what I am calling for: YES on ADUs, with incentives to rent them out
for under $1500/month. How on earth is this not being for affordable
housing.
There was a case where a benevolent woman in Takoma Park
rented out an ADU, I think it was a basement apartment for $900/month.
This is awesome and there should be more cases like this.
What I am afraid will happen is the following scenario:
a)
a wealthy Chevy Chase family who wants to make even more money builds a
high-end, freestanding unit on their property and rents it out for
$2200/month, which will be out of range for any middle income young
renter who takes transit, but will instead go to the Booz Allen
associate who brings his car.
b) An entire family moves in with
children and vehicles, making the unit functionally a duplex - which
would be all well and good, except for the resulting crowded conditions
in schools and on roads (since there is no way to prevent the ADU
residents from bringing their cars) and increased impermeable surfaces
which lowers the quality of life for both the new residents and the
existing residents. (So, essentially, when some people are talking about
"character of the neighborhood," they are indeed using a racist
dogwhistle, and they are factually wrong since the kind of people they
fear so much aren't even going to afford to live in the ADUs. But when
other people raise "neighborhood" concerns, they really do mean these
very unsexy arguments about crowding issues associated with adding more
upper-middle-class residents to a single lot.)
My solution? Allow
more ADUs, because we aren't going to "build a wall" to keep out new
residents and stop growth altogether - but RAISE TAXES on people
constructing ADUs for situations A and B, and WAIVE THE TAX for people
renting out ADUs for under $1500, to seniors, or to family members.
Kabardino Balkaria / @MoCoMillenial /@301lezginka trolled council member and ADU supporter (and county executive candidate in 2022) Hans Riemer in this thread with this screen shot in case of tweet or account deletion.
Your humble post author replied re whether Marc Elrich is anti business or an exclusionary supporter of owners of existing homes.
Almost 2 years later in this comment
Wrong.
I’m 32, make six figures in a tech job, have an advanced degree and I pay my damn taxes. I’m a contributing member of society.
I’m
a socialist. Experiencing the real world makes you a socialist. These
kids aren’t even socialists yet I agree with them. What they say makes
sense. Taxes are the price you pay for civilization.
Kabardino Balkaria also known as @301lezginka (formerly @MoCoMillenial) admits that he or she earns the same income as her or his 'straw man' argument (the Booz Allen associate who can still afford both a car and housing costs) against the ADU zoning law in 2019. Kabardino Balkaria/ @301lezginka is probably waiting for the apartment they live in to convert to a condo with past rent credited to the purchase. Marc Elrich has supported that as an affordable housing solution back to when he first ran for council in 2006 and again in 2019 after being elected executive.
But that is not a sustainable solution either. Eventually, by aging and dying in place if not job or family situation changes, the first owners of the converted apartment will move out and the resale price won't remain affordable in future markets because the seller will get a profit above paying for moving and a new residence in another location in or outside of Montgomery County. But enough time (perhaps 10 years or more) will have passed and the resale price will appear to be in line with, or below, the market price in the future. MPDUs (moderately priced dwelling units) have price caps on resales. Unfortunately an adequate amount of MPDUs to house all on wait lists need a large amount of total 'market price' units built to produce a small amount to avoid people languishing on a long wait list. There have been little accountability measures to assess how many wait on lists, for how long, and perhaps get nothing and move out of one county to become another county's 'housing market' 'problem' providing affordable housing. The displacement happens too slowly and no one puts in the time to gather the data while keeping identities of individuals confidential. That leaves only 'I have a friend' -type anonymous anecdotes driving policy in IRL and social media public discourse more than action making the subject of affordable housing fraught with conflict (drama) that people avoid.
Perhaps Marc Elrich's 2006 and 2019 suggestions, amplified on twitter by @301lezginka formerly @MoCoMillenial, for producing and retaining more affordable housing units could be improved by keeping a price cap on condo conversions of apartments built before a certain year (1960?) (like MPDU resales). An environmental solution to paving the bigger driveways, that could result from adding ADUs in single family detached houses has an easy 'tool' in the 'toolbox' as well. Require the paving of the driveways with permeable pavement like the parking lot of the Vienna, Virginia community center. If one has already given up car ownership to avoid living in a car unhoused or long commutes from more affordable 'housing markets' in other jurisdictions the traffic and stormwater runoff 'problems' from unrelated people living together in one single family house are solved without government action. Homeowners wishing to build an ADU could travel from MoCo to the Vienna community center to learn about permeable pavement as an option, perhaps a requirement, before construction.
No comments:
Post a Comment