HOUSING CLASS WARFARE

Washington legislators and local governments have been brainwashed by the real estate industry to believe that allowing developers to build whatever they want wherever they want without regard to the law is somehow going to magically solve the homeless crisis. The problem with this delusion is that cities seek luxury housing for higher tax revenue, thus driving up rents, property taxes, and utility bills by making land more valuable and water more scarce. That will increase homelessness. 

This scenario is now playing out where our environment and public participation are being trampled on by local government planning departments in bed with developers who commit fraudulent environmental determinations in order to generate home sales taxes. Local governments locked into this greedy scenario refuse to even consider requiring quid pro quo agreements with developers, where in exchange for increased density they make a percentage of units available for low-income tenants.

This is class warfare, and the governments are on the wrong side.