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I watched the Ohio Channel today broadcast your Feb 9, 2012 announcement about the National Mortgage Settlement. You are estimating about 100,000 homes in Ohio await demolition. And you are pledging $75 million toward this effort. There was a similar story on 60 Minutes a few weeks ago. Cleveland has already torn down 1000 homes at a cost of about $12,500/home and they have another 20,000 they’d like to tear down. This is being done in an effort to protect home values.
Is anyone worried about protecting car values? Does anyone take out a 30-yr loan when they buy a car? The answer to both questions is no. Why? Because the car market is free. That doesn’t mean that cars are free. What that means is that we are all free to select a car based on our needs/wants and on what we can afford. Freedom leads to prosperity.
If the housing market was free then that doesn’t mean houses would be free. It means we could all just select a home based on our needs/wants and on what we felt we could afford. If the housing market was free then we wouldn’t be taking out a 30-yr loan to buy a house. If the housing market was free then there would not have been a mortgage crisis. Just as we share the road and drive any car we want we could also share the land and live in any home we want. It’s just that simple.
Our constitution says we have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In order to have life one needs the necessities of life such as shelter. One should be free to choose that shelter. But we have exclusionary zoning so the housing market is not free. I spent 18 yrs in a mobile home park because in Farmington Hills, MI (near Detroit) they say your house has to be at least 24 ft wide (and conform to existing housing) and my singlewide was only 14 feet wide. When I left in May 2009 I was paying $310/mo to rent a 26 ft by 60 ft lot. That extrapolates to $8,656/acre/month. I estimate I could’ve saved $45K over those 18 yrs if I just could’ve placed my singlewide on a lot and paid property taxes like everyone else.
After I lost my job at 59 in Oct 2008 I decided to just retire (did not even apply for unemployment) and eventually moved my singlewide 300 miles south in May 2009 where my property taxes are now $662/yr vs. the $3,720/yr that I was paying in lot rent to the mobile home park. My lifetime income was only $699K but I did pay off my singlewide in less than 2 yrs. So I didn’t flush a lot of money down the 30-yr mortgage toilet. If I would have borrowed just $100K at 5% and paid it back over 30 yrs then I would’ve had to pay back $193K. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to save and put $186K into single premium immediate life annuities so that I now have $1065/mo income for life.
My last job only lasted 22 yrs and I was not able to start saving for retirement prior to that. I lived in apartments for 20 yrs prior to buying my singlewide in August of 1991. I worked for a good company for 20.5 yrs and I’ll get a pension from them when I’m 65. That company was bought out. I worked for the new company for 18 months before they let me go at 59 in Oct 2008. So my singlewide saved my life because I was able to move it. I didn’t have to leave it behind for someone to tear down. So those 100,000 homes that need to be demolished in Ohio are because the housing market is not free. I hope I’ve identified enough dots for you to connect. Yes, there is indeed exclusionary zoning right where I live now. The homeowner’s association has a restriction that says a home has to have a minimum of 1,200 sq ft and my singlewide only has 663 sq ft. But they graciously gave me a waiver. All Ohio needs a waiver. All America needs a waiver. And this waiver should be permanent. Just file suit to end exclusionary zoning based on our federal constitution which many people have taken an oath to protect and defend.
Ending exclusionary zoning does not mean you couldn’t zone an area as commercial and another area as residential in order to avoid mixing homes with industry. It’s OK to say you can’t have a septic tank anymore because that is for the health and safety of everyone. All I’m saying is that your home should not be banned because your home is only 14 feet wide. Allow for a little diversity and do not require a home to conform to existing housing. Don’t put any square foot restriction on a home. A small home costs less to buy and to heat. And a home that has mobility can be moved to that next job or to a warmer climate in retirement. All you need to do is sell the old lot and buy a new lot. A motor home could be driven away from a hurricane (New Orleans) or a brush fire (California).
Building a car is much more complicated than building a singlewide. So Detroit or Flint could easily build a formaldehyde-free singlewide. A 30 foot singlewide would be about 360 sq ft. Need more room? Then just buy two and connect them with a hallway. When the baby comes along buy a third. When baby goes to college then his/her unit could go along as housing for life. That would be much cheaper than living in the dorm. Getting a divorce. No problem. She takes her unit and you get yours.
You could make history. Or you could just remain another Pontius Pilate politician. Pilate knew Jesus was innocent but the crowd hollered ’Crucify Him’ and that’s what the crowd got. We both know exclusionary zoning is wrong. 33% of Americans are not homeowners. One out of every 5 homeless persons is a veteran. Hell americanselect.org might even draft you as their presidential candidate. I’d sure nominate you and vote for you or anyone else who ended exclusionary zoning. But no one else will do it. Not even Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. Not even Obama. Not John Kasich. Not Ted Strickland. Not Jennifer Granholm. Not Detroit mayor Bing. Not liberal Dave Esratti of Dayton. Not Drew Hastings, mayor of Hillsboro. So the door is wide open. Just walk through it and into history.
You can sign a petition to end exclusionary zoning here Change.org|Start an Online Petition »
