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It’s a Mess!


  

So I’m not the only one who has housing on the brain these days. Have you seen the recent Baltimore Banner article?

Buying a house in Howard County? You may be waiting a while, Hallie Miller 

As per usual, I came away wondering if anyone local had shopped this topic to them or whether it was already on their radar. It would be hard to miss. Still, I’m a busybody that way.

I swear to you that the first time I saw this article online it was accompanied by the words “Housing in Howard County is mess.” Wait, here it is.





Rather blunt, but: I’d agree. Not everyone thinks so, of course. I don’t usually recommend reading the comments but in this instance they’re more educational than toxic. I’m not saying they’re helpful - - but certainly eye-opening. My personal favorite is the poster who blames all of Howard County’s housing woes on Baltimore because nobody wants to live there. 

By that sort of logic we could also blame ourselves for being too appealing. We should have tried harder to be awful, one thinks. Although we do seem to be engaged in an extremely drawn out strategy of not paying enough in taxes to adequately support our excellent school system. Who knows? That could start to pay off as potential buyers sense that trend. 

Ouch.

My general assessment (of the comments section) is that some folks would rather stand on their heads and turn themselves inside out rather than face inconvenient realities. 

There’s also a conversation about this article on the Columbia Reddit, if you are interested.

I have some opinions about this article but I’d rather have you all read it and see what strikes you rather than plant any ideas in your head first. There’s one particular quote that made all my hair fall out but that’s all I’m going to say about that. 

I continue to watch YouTube videos about Tiny Homes, Pocket Neighborhoods, Micro Neighborhoods, ADU’s, Co-housing, not to mention stories of people who retrofit school buses and vans as their primary residences. There’s a sort of novelty in all of this but I think the underlying message is troubling: people can’t afford adequate shelter. We’ve created a system that has guaranteed that following generations know they’ll never be able to afford a home. 

That, my friends is a mess, whether it’s here in Howard County or anywhere else around the country. In Howard County it’s our mess. Are we going to take responsibility for it?

I hear there are elections coming up in Howard County. What a great time to find out where the candidates stand on this issue.


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