During the Scott Walker adminstration I worked at the state housing authority, WHEDA. One of the many developments WHEDA financed in the Walker years was Berkshire Greendale, just east of the Southridge mall.

Several middle class folks contacted me at the time of construction hoping to secure units. It was quite evident this was the type of housing anyone wouldn’t mind living in. The Berkshire is considered affordable housing.

Today’s affordable housing facilities are built of quality that matches or sometimes exceeds that of market-rate housing.  Take a look the next time you drive by. NOT your typical affordable housing.

Benefits? Affordable housing stays rented. Why? Because most properties have waiting lists. The rents almost always get paid. A voucher system makes sure of that.

Knowing they can afford rent, families enjoy the ability to spend more on health food, health care, and other essential items.

Building, preserving and sustaining affordable housing creates good-paying jobs: construction workers, property managers, leasing agents, security staff and more. Local businesses offer these workers needed resources like fuel and food.

The mere existence of these rental units results in an increase in neighborhood security and a reduction in crime.

All of the above points are well documented.

EVEN SO the mere mention of this kind of housing popping up in some neighborhoods can cause panic.

In May of 2021 award-winning national political columnist Betsy McCaughey wrote that Joe Biden was going after single-family homeowners in the suburbs.

Biden is pushing to end single-family zoning. The biggest item in Biden’s infrastructure bill at the time was $213 billion he claimed will increase affordable housing. Biden wanted to put the federal government in charge of zoning and distribute apartment buildings throughout single-family home neighborhoods.

The U.S. has a housing shortage. But many municipalities are already dealing with it. They don’t need Washington, D.C., strong-arming local decision-makers. That’s what Biden’s plan does. The bill creates a gigantic pot of taxpayer funds to hand out to towns that surrender self-rule. That’s a mistake since local control is vital.

UPDATE: Some are calling it a “war on the suburbs.”

Read more here.