Property Values vs. Affordable Housing

"Greg Bogut lives in a $575,000 home. He can afford it. To him, that makes it affordable housing.

What bothers him is affordable housing that people can't afford without a government subsidy — such as the town homes he can see from his front porch. The affordable complex has slashed the value of his Woodbury house, he says.

"If I had known then what I know now," Bogut said, "I wouldn't have moved here."

He would have had many alternatives. While Woodbury embraces affordable housing — government-subsidized or not — dozens of Twin Cities suburbs don't. Traditionally, homeowners like Bogut have made the suburbs hostile territory for affordable housing. The lack of affordability is written into building codes, integrated into local regulations and woven into suburban culture.

But the anti-affordable way of life is under attack."