Did you ever notice that those politicians that are publicly wringing their hands over a lack of affordable housing are the same politicians whose actions created this lack in the first place.
And their creativity continues unabated with their very latest ploy called a “Conservations Futures Fund”(1) whereby they purchase land which is then forever classified as “farmland”, and which cannot ever be used for residential purposes. This action effectively “retires” the land and further exacerbates the housing shortage.
Furthermore, to add insult to injury, they then raise our taxes to obtain the necessary funding since, as we all know – or should know – politicians have no money save what they extort from us taxpayers,
They’re hitting us with a double whammy… they make houses more expensive and they use our money to do it. And we let them, for gosh sakes!
But this is nothing new as our politicians, through intent or ignorance, have been systematically raising housing costs for quite some time.
Yet another one of their favorites is “discovering” a slightly soggy area that, in past, was considered merely a large puddle left over from a rainstorm but is suddenly determined to be an official wetland – replete with boundaries and set-backs – and is now sacrosanct and forever placed in a non-developable status. Bingo, another “retirement”.
Obviously, these politician-driven “retirements” contribute to a scarcity of land and, consequently, housing. Since land “retirements” create these scarcities, maybe we should stop retiring land. Maybe, instead, we should retire some politicians.
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