Affordable Housing is a Topic of Concern Lately

I for one think this is a real problem, it's good to see people starting to do something about it.

Fannie Mae and Realtors team up: "Fannie Mae has teamed up with the Arizona Association of Realtors to assist Valley businesses in helping their employees buy homes. Under the Housing Arizona's Workforce program, real estate agents will market a Fannie Mae housing initiative that encourages employers to offer customized housing incentives, ideally as a company

This fits in nicely with a story from yesterday.

Panel to tackle void in affordable housing: "Beginning teachers, police officers, firefighters and others can't afford to buy a home in many parts of metro Phoenix. That reality is the flip side of a years-long boom of appreciation in the nation's No. 1 housing market. 'We are heading toward a real housing crisis,' said residential real estate developer Gregg Holmes, president of Stardust Cos." Holmes is leading a group of business, civic and government leaders who are looking for solutions. Soaring housing costs and weak income gains have made it harder now for Valley residents to afford a home than any time since 1989.

Here's the surprising bit (for me anyway).

Despite record home sales across the Phoenix area, the state's homeownership rate has dropped since 2000. This signals that second-home buyers and investors are behind much of the current buying spree and are pushing prices above what actual residents can afford. The goal of the Regional Task Force on Quality Workforce Housing is to spur development of more homes for households earning $20,000 to $42,000 a year.