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March 20, 2007

"Middle-class people are great, too"

I swear, you can't make this stuff up. This NY Times article reports on subsidized housing, Santa Barbara-style:

Next time you sit down to write your monthly mortgage or rent check, consider this: In Santa Barbara, about 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles, a public-private partnership is planning to build a subsidized-housing development for some families earning as much as $177,000. “It does sound unusual,” admitted Rob Pearson, the executive director of the city’s Housing Authority, which helped broker the deal for the development, to be called Los Portales. “But Santa Barbara is getting Gucci-fied. If we don’t do something, we’ll lose our middle class.” [. . .]

City officials say they’ve worked to provide affordable homes for lower-income residents; about 12 percent of local housing stock falls into this category, much of it subsidized with public money. But with the average median home price in the Santa Barbara area hovering around $1.2 million, many well-employed citizens are finding it tough to buy a home.

“It’s even problematic for people like doctors,” says Martha Sadler, a housing reporter for The Santa Barbara Independent weekly newspaper. [. . .]

“This is good for Santa Barbara” Sadler says. “Rich people are great, and it’s interesting to live with C.E.O.’s. But there are middle-class people who are great, too.”

But not too middle class, right? ;^)

Posted by Tom at March 20, 2007 4:20 AM |

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