By Nikki Weinstein
FOCUS Director of Policy and Community Engagement

Is the time right now for people to understand the message of our Workforce Housing Public Awareness Campaign? At our committee meeting a few weeks ago, one member optimistically posited that the economic situation and housing market conditions may be aligned in our favor. You see the housing market has slowed, as we are all told daily by the media, right? Housing developers are sitting on land they purchased before the current bust. Maybe they are wondering how long it will be before they can build the McMansion they had planned on putting there. Maybe they are wondering who they can offload the undeveloped property to. Perhaps they should be wondering what kind of house they can build on that land that will sell.

What will meet the current market demand? Many in-the-know in the housing community know the answer to that question.  The market will still support home purchases at the lower price end of things. Just ask a realtor what is selling quickest.

So it just may be the right time for communities to reevaluate what they need to do to make this happen. I’m talking about things like being more willing and nimble in changing zoning and previously approved plans. The plans may be great, but the housing construction just isn’t happening.

And what if the municipality was willing to rezone those McMansion projects to support more modestly priced home construction? Will community members be ok with that? What about all that NIMBYism that has been so rampant in the region? People have for years been under the false impression that building a $150,000 home in the same community as a $350,000 is bad for property values when in fact study after study after study has shown this is just not true. People have stereotyped the kind of people who live in those homes saying they don’t want “those people” as neighbors. With the current economic downturn are people ready to understand that “those people” are our teachers and bank tellers, our daycare workers and nursing assistants—hard working people with families to support.

The message is: WE NEED THE PEOPLE WHO NEED WORKFORCE HOUSING. Are people getting it now?