社評0406 政府再購一百棟住房供貧戶居住

政府再購一百棟住房供貧戶居住

德州赫里斯郡政府昨天再度撥款一千五百萬元購買一百楝住宅，提供給低收入戶居住。這些住宅建在政府擁有之土地上， 以租賃九十九年之方式來減低住戶之負擔。

根據數字顯示 ，每個住房大約可以在目前之房價上便宜十萬元 ，平均房價在二十八萬五千元，是低於一般大休斯敦之平均房價。

事實上， 美國聯邦及地方上的房屋部門多年來推出許多對低收入持白卡的居民之房屋計劃，主要是實施住者有其屋之計劃， 尤其對持白卡低收入者幾乎不必付太多房租皆可以住上不錯之公寓房。

我們建議休斯敦市及郡政府應該大量釋出政府擁有之土地， 可以和私人建商合作來迅速加蓋各式樓宇， 如果土地價格低廉相對之建築成本就會大幅下降， 可以造福許多市民。

住者有其屋是我們的一種權利， 但是必須要政府大力幫助。 目前我們各大城市流浪漢之問題非常嚴重， 如果加上經濟情況惡化， 對社會會造成更大之影響。

我們非常感謝赫里斯郡之撥款建房 ，也對他們給予社會之溫暖表示讚佩。

   We Need More Housing Projects

Harris County Commissioner’s Court on Tuesday approved a $15 million dollar initiative to buy more than100 single-family houses to provide long-term affordable housing. The homes will be purchased using funding through the federal government's American Rescue Plan Act. Making a purchase with the land trust can take $10,000 off the list price make them more affordable. Each property in the land trust program has a 99-year renewable ground lease. 

Commissioner Rodney Ellis said        in a statement, “This preserves affordable homes and creates wealth-building opportunities through home ownership.”

We suggest that the City of Houston and Harris County governments should release a large number of government-owned land and work more closely with private investors to build more affordable housing projects to solve the housing  problem in Houston.

We are very grateful for the funding from Harris County, but we need to build more in the near future.