The NY Times had an interesting article/opinion piece today, Home Builders (You Heard That Right) Get a Gift. The article deals with a new tax relief program that provides benefit home builders. That, however, is not the focus of my interest. Back several months ago I was comenting on several articles in the Boston Globe related to housing. Those articles were blaming the state's economic crisis on inadequate home building and suggesting we would be better off being more like Florida or California. Here are the quotes:
"Among the biggest beneficiaries are home builders, analysts say. Once again, at the front of the government assistance line, stand some of the very companies that contributed mightily to the credit crisis by building and financing too many homes. "
"But dropping helicopter money on the home builders — the folks who massively overbuilt in community after community — seems decidedly less urgent (unless you are one of these companies, of course). Given that the supply of housing far outstrips demand, it is unlikely that these companies will use these tax breaks to hire workers (unless they go into a completely new line of business)."
Hopefully those who believe the lower levels of housing constuction in Massachusetts will soon understand that balancing supply and demand is more appropriate than hoping "if you build it they will they will come."
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