In an appeal to the strong and proud history of North East Ohio, a land built by the working class, we need to remember how the working class have historically housed themselves.
Where the jobs were the land was expensive. Meaning the threshold to own land was reserved exclusively to the wealthy. However, through solidarity and community the working class could outbid the wealthy through a simple means.
Density.
While a single working class family could not out bid a wealth industry elite, together they could pool their resources to overcome this hurdle and obtain the land for the many rather than the privileged few.
Density controls, whether the result of zoning, land-use regulations, or subdivision regulations, break this system, effectively prohibiting the working poor from outbidding the rich for urban land. These policies come in a variety of forms: minimum lot sizes, single-family zoning, parking requirements, minimum unit sizes, etc. But they all require some minimum level of housing consumption—purportedly for the residents own good, in many cases—which means that residents who cannot afford to consume this minimum threshold of urban land cannot consume housing in this neighborhood at all.
It is in the capacity of Lakewood city council to return this power to the working class by upzoning all of Lakewood.
I support efforts for more affordable housing in Lakewood. I want to encourage City Council and the Mayor to include renters in every housing legislation as there always seems to be an absence from mention in a city where 60% of residents rent. I also encourage council to actually talk to tenants more and center their voices in determining equitable housing in affordability. Lakewood is in desperate need of a rent to own program and more public knowledge of transitional housing.
In an appeal to the strong and proud history of North East Ohio, a land built by the working class, we need to remember how the working class have historically housed themselves.
Where the jobs were the land was expensive. Meaning the threshold to own land was reserved exclusively to the wealthy. However, through solidarity and community the working class could outbid the wealthy through a simple means.
Density.
While a single working class family could not out bid a wealth industry elite, together they could pool their resources to overcome this hurdle and obtain the land for the many rather than the privileged few.
Density controls, whether the result of zoning, land-use regulations, or subdivision regulations, break this system, effectively prohibiting the working poor from outbidding the rich for urban land. These policies come in a variety of forms: minimum lot sizes, single-family zoning, parking requirements, minimum unit sizes, etc. But they all require some minimum level of housing consumption—purportedly for the residents own good, in many cases—which means that residents who cannot afford to consume this minimum threshold of urban land cannot consume housing in this neighborhood at all.
It is in the capacity of Lakewood city council to return this power to the working class by upzoning all of Lakewood.
I support efforts for more affordable housing in Lakewood. I want to encourage City Council and the Mayor to include renters in every housing legislation as there always seems to be an absence from mention in a city where 60% of residents rent. I also encourage council to actually talk to tenants more and center their voices in determining equitable housing in affordability. Lakewood is in desperate need of a rent to own program and more public knowledge of transitional housing.