Below-Market Housing Mandates as Takings

High housing prices in recent years are making it increasingly difficult for many to purchase a home. Prices have been rising all over the United States, especially in cities on the East and West Coasts. In San Francisco, for example, the median home sells for $846,500 (Said, 2007, p.cI), which requires yearly mortgage payments of roughly $63,000 (plus yearly property taxes of $8,500). Not only is the median home unaffordable to most, but there is a dearth of affordable homes on the low end, too. In San Francisco, a household making the median income of $86,100 can afford (using traditional lending guidelines) only 6.7 percent of existing homes (National Association of Homebuilders/ Wells Fargo, 2007). Households making less are all but precluded from the possibility of home ownership (Riches, 2004).

Continue reading here.