The Case for Public Housing in Bloomington
Public housing is often seen as a dangerous place to live, or even a looming threat to the value and safety of someone’s neighborhood. It doesn’t have to be this way. Public housing is an opportunity for the city to make life affordable for low and middle income families, improve the local housing market, grow the local economy, and provide new amenities for everyone to enjoy.
The Problems with Market Housing
High interest rates push housing developers to only build high-margin, large-scale, luxury apartments. Besides these apartments having excessively high rents, this is one of many factors that lead to the city missing medium density housing designed for families and neighborhoods, like duplexes and townhomes, known as “missing middle” housing.
Building housing is a high-risk investment, due to unexpected roadblocks or expenses, leading investors to favor buying up and renting out existing housing. However, banning investment properties won’t necessarily get them to build new housing. Instead, investors would likely look for investments in other sectors entirely.
The city’s high regulatory burden and low building height limit also restrict market supply and add to construction costs. While we make gradual progress in this area, public housing could be a more direct way of meeting the city’s housing needs.
Beautiful Public Housing
The biggest complaint people tend to have about public housing is its appearance. It tends to be built with no consideration for its appearance, and almost signals that the people living there don’t deserve to live somewhere pleasant. When someone says “the projects” or “section 8”, people think of concrete “commie blocks” that show signs of poor maintenance.
The first step in making public housing a positive for the community is using beautiful architecture that fits in with or improves the neighborhood. In Bloomington, this would mean Collegiate Gothic architecture using Indiana limestone and brick for large developments, and Colonial or Cottage styles in smaller neighborhoods. Alternatively, Neoclassical and Art-Deco styles have defined and symbolized American innovation and wealth since our founding, and would add new life to Bloomington’s landscape. The city has the opportunity to commission architects and guide the design of public housing directly, rather than the usual process of going back and forth with a private developer.
Housing over Profits
Public housing can be focused completely on housing people over making profits. Early public housing construction can be funded through low-interest municipal bonds. Once completed, rent can cover maintenance and bond repayments. When these bonds are paid off, rent can be lowered to only cover maintenance, used as public revenue, or reinvested in future public housing, which would provide exponentially more affordable housing.
Public housing can compete to bring down rents and prices of market-rate housing, and set the local standard of living, benefiting everyone in the city. Some units could be sold as affordable owner-occupied homes to increase financial stability and personal ownership in the community.
Housing over Everything Else
Housing should be put literally above everything else. Public mixed-use developments can offer affordable retail, office, and workshop spaces for local businesses. This could help bring down rents for all businesses in town, leading to more jobs and lower prices at stores and restaurants, while bringing services into neighborhoods that don’t have access to them otherwise.
Public amenities can be built into larger developments, including schools, daycares, libraries, gyms, bathrooms, and rooftop parks. These services often increase nearby property values, which would help homeowners who are concerned about their investments. By bringing these places together, working families can save time commuting, picking up and dropping off their kids, and running errands.
Examples Around the World
Public housing is common in some of the richest parts of Europe and Asia. Vienna, Austria uses it to stabilize housing costs and fill the city with high-quality homes. Singapore has used it to improve social cohesion while making use of their limited land.
Conclusion
Public housing has the power to quickly improve our housing market, and make Bloomington an affordable and attractive place to live. It doesn’t require an outside firm to come along and choose to invest here, and it can be everything the city wants it to be. Bloomington currently has 320 public housing units, and I encourage our leaders to create more, and residents to give them a chance.