社评0406 政府再购一百栋住房供贫户居住

政府再购一百栋住房供贫户居住

德州赫里斯郡政府昨天再度拨款一千五百万元购买一百楝住宅，提供给低收入户居住。这些住宅建在政府拥有之土地上， 以租赁九十九年之方式来减低住户之负担。

根据数字显示 ，每个住房大约可以在目前之房价上便宜十万元 ，平均房价在二十八万五千元，是低於一般大休斯敦之平均房价。

事实上， 美国联邦及地方上的房屋部门多年来推出许多对低收入持白卡的居民之房屋计划，主要是实施住者有其屋之计划， 尤其对持白卡低收入者几乎不必付太多房租皆可以住上不错之公寓房。

我们建议休斯敦市及郡政府应该大量释出政府拥有之土地， 可以和私人建商合作来迅速加盖各式楼宇， 如果土地价格低廉相对之建筑成本就会大幅下降， 可以造福许多市民。

住者有其屋是我们的一种权利， 但是必须要政府大力帮助。 目前我们各大城市流浪汉之问题非常严重， 如果加上经济情况恶化， 对社会会造成更大之影响。

我们非常感谢赫里斯郡之拨款建房 ，也对他们给予社会之温暖表示讚佩。

   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.