Say ‘Yes’ to Housing

Housing Matters By Alexandra Goldman, column originally appearing in the Taos News.

One of the best ways to make Taos a pro-housing community is by showing up for public comment. Unfortunately, one of the best ways to make Taos an anti-housing community is also by showing up for public comment. Too often, the anti-housing sentiment drowns out the pro at public hearings here in Taos and all across the country.

We need to build momentum around saying “Yes” to housing.

Public comment is a double-edged sword. In the land use process, it can be an important check against unbridled, profit-driven development and can add a layer of needed local knowledge to any proposal.

In practice, however, public comment often inhibits new housing. According to one thorough study, 85 percent of public commenters at hearings on new housing are in opposition. And if you’ve ever been to one of these hearings in Taos, you’ll probably agree that even that figure seems low.

Research has shown people who participate in these hearings are whiter, wealthier and more likely to be homeowners than the rest of their community. There is an obvious rationale here: Homeownership is a massive investment and neighboring homeowners want to protect their investment from risk — perceived or real.

The fantastic book “Neighborhood Defenders” by Einstein, Glick and Palmer elaborates: The negative impacts of new housing — construction noise, traffic impacts, view obstruction, etc. — are felt acutely by a small number of people, usually the neighbors. The benefits of new housing — relief to a tight housing market — are felt diffusely by a large number of people over a longer period of time. So the negative impacts are acute, the positive impacts are spread out; it makes sense that the people acutely experiencing the downsides are more likely to show up.

Unfortunately, there are tangible, negative consequences from the prevalence of this anti-housing sentiment. Across the country, housing developments have been shut down or have been forced to build fewer homes or experienced delays that end up costing the project lots of money, making the housing more expensive in the end, because of organized public opposition.

We can’t, and shouldn't stop these members of the community from representing their perspective. But we can change the overall message delivered at these meetings by showing up and speaking on behalf of the community as a whole.

We can help our fellow community members understand the public good is good for them, too. The benefits to the community of building more housing are real and substantial. Housing means better staffed schools and medical facilities. Housing means future economic opportunity for all the members of the community. It means more local businesses and cleaner streets. Housing means family members, friends and young people are not forced to leave. Housing means a more vibrant Taos for every single one of us.

You will hear people in town say, “Why not build housing out on the mesa? There’s so much room out there! Not near us, not here.” Well, if we want to build affordably, sustainably and at scale, and if we want to access the public subsidies that are the only way to build truly-affordable housing these days, then we need to build where there is existing infrastructure. And infrastructure is where people already live.

So a neighbor or three is going to be unhappy because they can no longer look out an an unbroken expanse of sagebrush in one direction, or because their view is somewhat obstructed, or because their road might see an increase in traffic, or because they worry that elk will no longer visit their yard. These are all real public comments I have heard in the past few years here in Taos.

It’s up to the rest of us to say “Yes” to housing for our teachers, “Yes” to housing for our kids, “Yes” to housing for our elders, and “Yes” to housing for Taos.

We need to literally show up and let our voice be heard. Taos Housing Partnership does our best to let folks know when these kinds of hearings are happening, you can sign up for our email list at our website or email me at the address below. I’ll see you there.

Alexandra Goldman is the community engagement manager with Taos Housing Partnership and may be contacted at info@taoshousingpartnership.org. She has worked on housing affordability in high-cost housing markets as a community organizer and community planner for 17 years. Taos Housing Partnership is working to create equitable housing opportunities for Taos County.