For the 2016, 2018 and 2020 elections, a major topic has been Affordable Housing. When I think Affordable Housing, I am thinking Sigle Family Homes for Low Income & Blue Collar Families, for under $100,000 but, I know that is now wishful dreaming on my part, or is it? When I listen to the Candidates talk about Affordable Housing, they are throwing around prices like $200,000.00 to $250,000.00 and complaining about how Developers keep building Neighborhoods with $250,000.00 to $450,000.00 Homes. Low Income Families and MOST Blue Collar Families can not afford a $200,000.00 Home and the reality of it is, we have to face the facts, there is no such thing as Affordable Housing any more when it comes to New Single Family Homes unless it is a small Townhouse.

I have done the Math, to build a simple plain jane, basic 3/2 Home using basic materials, nothing high end, not even a Garage or Carport, and I even used very conservative prices, adding it all up, the cost of an 1/8 of an Acre Lot, Site Prep, a Mono Slab Foundation, Framing, Trusses, Sheeting & Roofing, Basic Exterior Siding, Sheet Rock, Basic Vinyl/Carpet Flooring, Basic Windows & Doors & Door Hardware, Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC & Ducting, Basic Kitchen & Bathroom Cabinets, Sinks, Tubs & Toilets, Basic Appliances, Basic Fixtures & Lighting, Basic Trim, Painting Inside and Outside, Light Switches and Plug Outlets, a Parking Pad & small Patio, basic Land Scaping plus, I added $10,000.00 for the things I may have missed and I came up with $155,000.00 for just Labor & Materials. That’s with OUT adding in the Profit Margin. You can not make Contractors build $70,000.00 to $100,000.00 Homes when they cost $155,000.00 and up to build them. What I consider Affordable Housing for the Lower Income and Blue Collar Workers is impossible, it can not be done and, the same can be said for a new 3/2 Town Home.

So, when it comes to Affordable Housing, maybe it is time to think outside the Box. There are a lot of older Homes on the market that need work priced between $25,000.00 to $50,000.00 and spending another $20,000.00 to $50,000.00 rehabbing it gets you into a very nice Home for $45,000.00 to $100,000.00 in less time then it would take to build one from the ground up and cost half as much. There are many Banks that will do creative Mortgages and something like this might fall into a Construction type Mortgage where one part pays for the Property and another part pays for the Rehab and when it is finished the two parts come together into one Mortgage. It is a win win because you are Rehabbing a Home and a Community as well as Improving Property Values.

We could have hired several black workers to collect those fees for what we are going to pay Vector you know. But those unemployed black workers did not contribute to our Commissioners (who are mostly white) HAA HAA styled accounts.

Those darn white leftist Commissioners.