Trulia
Real estate “heat” map for Erie County:
Given Buffalo home prices, why do we have public housing projects again?
6 Responses to “Trulia”
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Adam K. Says:July 17th, 2008 at 9:49 am
3 things
1) The home prices in Wales, Boston, Colden, and Evans are inflated because the lot sizes are so large and its not done by acreage.
2) Absolutely Amazing how cleanly Main Street divides the haves from the have nots in Buffalo
3) When did Cheektowaga get THAT poor?
lefty Says:July 17th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Because politicians do not get real estate commissions….
Celtic Tide Says:July 17th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Great maps, Trulia is pretty cool.
When looking at it, the old adage that “all real estate is local” comes to mind. Comparing areas by sales price can be interesting but what you get in one locale for a certain number is far from what you might get elswhere for the same number. Here’s one side of an example:
My sister moved to Angola right in the village a year ago and can’t be happier. Their third and fourth children were ready to go to school and with the first two attending private schools in the city, the cost was going to go through the roof. With two children in school, Lake Shore SD is a bargain compared with private schools in the city, with four the savings is huge and they now have the ability to enjoy a bigger lot and spend the savings on the creature comforts. Interestingly, their tax refund and stim. check were spent on a new pool/deck/fence, and these are people who said they’d never move out of the city. My sister raves about her neighbors and her ten minute drive to their boat (Sturgeon Pt.) or one of several beaches.
david Says:July 17th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Alan,
Great map! I’ve posted about it here http://fixbuffalo.blogspot.com/2008/07/two-cities.html and linked to some corresponding developments.
Buffalo Blood Donor Says:July 17th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
To address your specific question: Because even at those prices there are still people so far below the poverty line that they will never be able to afford any kind of housing, much less “decent” housing. U.S. defined the poverty “guideline” at $21,200 for a family of four, and the mean household income in 2007 for the city was $27,850. That probably puts a lot of people at an income level that won’t sustain either a small mortgage or yearly taxes or upkeep or any of those hidden house costs that we homeowners know all too well.
This is not meant to be a judgment call on whether or not the poorest of the poor deserve their lot in life or deserve to receive housing assistance or couldn’t do more to raise themselves out of poverty. It’s simply a matter of the numbers. Given that so many people would be homeless without some kind of public housing assistance it makes sense that there would an effort to provide it. I’ll leave the argument about how much is too much assistance to others.
Perhaps you need to ask (or are asking) the question: Why doesn’t the government simply buy up those houses and turn them into public housing, rather than building new buildings from scratch? I think that’s a legitimate question that our city leaders might want to chew on.
BBD
hank Says:July 18th, 2008 at 3:41 am
After talking with Councilman Golombek about the Section 8 housing in Riverside in Black Rock on a trip back home (he’s an old friend from the neighborhood–), I’m surprised there’s Public Housing in Buffalo too!!
At one time the Shaffer Village Project in Riverside and Jasper Parrish in (Polack)Black Rock were the only assisted housing units in NW Buffalo.
Hundreds of formerly owner occupied/rented flat doubles in NW Buffalo are now Section 8, Owners don’t want to live with the tenants. When the Perry Projects were closed, all those people came into RR/BR to live.
Problem is most of those housing units were built between 1890 and 1930. (The house I grew up in was one of the older ones– lower flat with a one bedroom income bungalow upper that we used all the space, 1889) If you don’t refurbish them and keep them up, you soon have a ghetto, which is what RR/BR has become.