Here are two of the slides from the workshop:
Notice the repeated use of the word "support" in the first slide. Support can mean many things, but, it often means financial support. Financial support can be "cash" like grants, in-kind support like providing all the infrastructure, or indirect support such as tax abatement or reduced fees.
The City should not get financially entangled with supporting affordable housing. Keep in mind that "affordable housing" is often used as a synonym for Federal government subsidized housing such as "section 8".
The next landmine to watch out for is the "public-private partnership". There are many "bad" characteristics of these arrangements and none are good for the taxpayer. To name a few:
1 They provide new opportunities for corruption and cronyism.
2 PPPs are
used to conceal public borrowing, while providing long-term government guarantees
for profits to private companies.
3 PPPs
originated as an accounting trick, a way round the government’s own constraints
on public borrowing. This remains the overwhelming attraction for governments
and international institutions.
4 There is always a loss of transparency with PPPs because
private companies can and do withhold much information on the grounds of
commercial confidentiality. We certainly do not need more opaque contracts such as we have currently with GUS.
The list goes on!
Georgetown citizens must be vigilant to make sure the City Council does not get entangled in any agreement that commits the City to financial support of affordable housing. It has been proven in several analyses that the best way to reduce housing costs is to reduce the regulations that are placed on land owners, developers, and builders. That is where the City focus should lie.
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