Population slightly down in MA 2022 (Boston, Springfield: buying a house, luxury, public school)

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

Huh? Not sure if this is the first new development that has affordables or not in Duxbury but it's a current example.

No, it isn't the 1st. I know of at least one other one in Duxbury where my husband represented the developer. There was an uproar about that one, too.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Why is everyone entitled to a single family home? That's not the case anywhere in the world.

No one is entitled to a house, but plenty seem entitled to think that moderate tiered income earners should be excluded from being able to live in a nice town and don't want to hear about affordable housing going up.

[CaseyB]

They are entitled to the kind of house they can afford, not what they wish they could afford.

What if they want to own a Mercedes, but can only realistically afford a Volkswagon, do the taxpayers have to make up the difference?

Say you bought one of those $950K homes in Duxbury and you found out your next door neighbor only paid $350K for the same thing, how is that going to make you feel?

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

They are entitled to the kind of house they can afford, not what they wish they could afford.

What if they want to own a Mercedes, but can only realistically afford a Volkswagon, do the taxpayers have to make up the difference?

Say you bought one of those $950K homes in Duxbury and you found out your next door neighbor only paid $350K for the same thing, how is that going to make you feel?

Well, one of my properties was a townhouse where a certain % were affordable units. One unit at the other end of my building was an affordable unit. Some interior finishes in mine like the tile and certain millwork, flooring were higher quality, however, everything else was the same. They got their unit for I want to say something like $160K less, I think their condo fee was less too. Was I happy about it? No, but the reason was b/c the guy cheated the affordable housing lottery system. He bought it himself, based on his assets with saying he was only going to be living there. Then, shortly after closing, he had his gf/fiance move in. Both worked so there were two incomes...not just his. They prob could have afforded a market rate so in essence he 'stole' from someone else who was more deserving of such a unit.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by msRB311

to me it all just feels like some people get a discount, some people don't. I don't like that.

Well, that's kind of the only way the affordable housing scenario really works, right? I mean if they were open to the $500K/year high income rollers of Deluxbury, they'd all get scooped up and then once again back in the same predicament where no moderate income earners can live there.

[msRB311]

I was just at my kids soccer practice and this kind of came up. another mom who grew up in hingham was saying she didn't want to move to hingham as an adult because the homes there are basically built on top of each other now, there's hardly any green space left and there's traffic everywhere.

Same girl same.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

Believe it or not, my first home was in a top tier town. I was completely disgusted one day when I went to pick up my dry cleaning, there was an entitled late 40's-early fifty something year old woman in front of me who thought it was the attendant's duty to carry out all her dry cleaning and hang it up for her in her car that she parked right out alongside the curb to the front entrance of the place. Meanwhile the line of others waiting to pick up, was about 4 people deep. I was in my mid twenties at the time and found it repulsive. It didn't stop there, plenty other similar stories from my trips to the town grocery store, etc. You can have money but it doesn't mean you have class!

That's a funny story but I'm not sure what it has to do with building affordable housing developments in the green space of suburbs.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by msRB311

That's a funny story but I'm not sure what it has to do with building affordable housing developments in the green space of suburbs.

It was in response to Mt Pleasant's post : In fact I think the contrast between "nice areas" vs "bad areas" should be restricted. Social class segregation is unhealthy for a society.



It was an 'elite' town I was living in and I noticed a definite snobbery, like holier than thou attitude by folks who probably had mega millions and thought they were above everyone else. 'You're just a dry cleaner shop owner-- how dare you think I'm going to carry my own clothes out to my car'

[CaseyB]

The thing is that just because you manage to purchase a property through affordable housing (like you're advocating for), doesn't mean you are going to fit in. You need a higher income to fit in, housing is only one aspect.

[msRB311]

Where did the word elite come from to describe towns? Lol. My son plays hockey and the top teams are called 'elite' and that causes issues. Just such a word these days.