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What makes housing unaffordable?

by Greg Hinkle
| January 22, 2025 12:00 AM

There is a lot of discussion surrounding the need for “affordable” housing. A relative term. What is affordable to some may not be affordable to others. For the most part, those of a more progressive leaning push for the government to do something to make housing affordable.

I think that maybe it would be more appropriate to examine what makes housing unaffordable. Inflation has made building materials skyrocket. Lumber prices fluctuate somewhat, but it is the costs for all the other components from paint to cabinet materials to flooring to plumbing to electrical — you get the picture. The root cause of the inflation is government deficit spending and printing more money to continue to pay the debt on the deficit.

Next, I would submit that property taxes (the cruelest tax of all) are a major culprit in high housing costs. This is huge burden is placed most significantly on those who rent and seniors (me) on fixed incomes. For discussion sake, if the Legislature or your county commissioners raise the property tax for a landowner who has a rental and has a tax increase, that amounts to $100 per month. The land owner will raise the rent to cover that expense plus. Currently, there is a move in our Legislature to raise taxes on all types of rentals, both long- and short-term.

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