The housing market remains in terrible shape, and yet has been puzzlingly absent from policy discussions in the presidential campaign. In the next term, Barack Obama or Mitt Romney will have to take steps to get housing out of its slump, construction workers back to work, and Americans into new homes.
To do so, the next president should copy the “Race to the Top” contest that the Obama administration ran in education, and give out grants that reward state and local governments for policies that encourage new construction — particularly in urban cores where demand is strongest.
Comments
Until the glut of foreclosed properties are absorbed into the market, there is no reason for any of Mr. Barro's "ideas" to be implemented. The so called "urban core" has plenty of housing by the way, and developers are building more of it every day. Its the places like Dorchester and Lawrence that have housing needs. This piece is one of the most backwards-thinking policy pieces on housing I have seen since to pro-40B editorials that ran a couple of years ago. with 40B on the books, we already have Mr. Barro's housing policies in place. We don't need more of the same.
Unless they build in the inner cities (vacant lots) like Mayor Mineno has, we have enough new homes or foreclosed home that need to be bought first. Just building new homes and leaving others vacant does not help the economy or those that need to sell the homes they cannot afford.
I saw the over building of new homes and condo's in Florida and now they stand vacant...we do not need more, but these to be bought and to keep the mortgage rates low for QUALIFIED buyers.
The point of the article is that when building housing, some thought should go into the planning as to who will live in the homes and where will those people work. Planners should take into account factors other than the profit of the builder and banks. Many of the foreclosed homes in MA got that way because they are built too far away from work. No one wants to buy something way out in the boondocks if they have to commute. People who buy homes with no way to pay for them - because there are no jobs in Lunenburg, is a recipe for foreclosure. People want homes in the urban core near public transportation. Florida is a different market than Boston. You should know that if you were in Florida. Building in Boston would be for productive people who are now commuting. The Florida homes you refer to were probably marketed as second homes and retirement homes in retirement communities.