Friday, April 01, 2005

 

Bring 'em Home

This is a great idea. I am not usually one to support tax credits, refunds, deductions (I'd much rather just see the government lower taxes instead of trying to persuade me to live my life a certain way, but I digress). The idea to offer tax credits to new homeowners is a great idea. It's not much ($500 a year), but for people thinking about buying a new house, if that encourages them to stay in Cincinnati rather than moving out of the city to the 'burbs and exurbs, then it's great. Cincinnati has a 39% homeownership rate (and while I don't have the time to research the exact rates in other comparable cities, I can tell you this is dramatically lower than most).

I am 100% in support of the idea that a signficant number of the problems we see in our communities is a result of low ownership. An ownership city has built in desire to make things better. They are there for the long haul, if crime is happening on their doorsteps, they are motivated to make it stop, because they can't just pack up and move across town to another apartment.

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