Suggested by 
Safiya Cummings
almost 3 years ago
The unmet need for a reduced cost of living is a global concern arising from income disparities, soaring housing costs, escalating healthcare expenses, skyrocketing education fees, inflation, insufficient retirement savings, economic uncertainty, and environmental sustainability goals. To tackle this issue, a comprehensive approach is essential, encompassing policies for income redistribution, affordable housing, accessible healthcare, education reform, and inflation control. Promoting financial literacy and personal financial management also plays a pivotal role in empowering individuals to navigate these challenges effectively. Addressing this need is not only an economic imperative but also a social one, impacting the well-being and societal stability of individuals and families worldwide.
Now is the opportune moment to address the need for a reduced cost of living for several compelling reasons. Economic recovery from recent crises, growing awareness of income inequality, the continuous rise in living costs, changing workforce dynamics, sustainability imperatives, technological advancements, policy momentum, global challenges, the enhancement of overall quality of life, and considerations for future generations all converge to emphasize the importance of tackling this issue. By addressing the cost of living now, we can create a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient future for individuals and communities, aligning with societal aspirations for economic fairness and environmental responsibility.
Existing Company
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Founder @ BiophiliaScape TT
“A growing body of evidence supports shared equity housing’s effectiveness as a strategy for preserving affordability, building wealth, and stabilizing communities. Studies of increasing scales have shown that shared equity housing programs deliver subsidies more efficiently than traditional homeownership programs by successfully preserving affordability between subsequent owners. Shared equity housing can also give people who are priced out of market- rate ownership the opportunity to build their assets with fewer risks than in traditional homeownership. Long-term affordability and asset-building potential can be particularly valuable benefits for communities of color, who disproportionally face displacement and who have been systemically excluded from the benefits of homeownership through segregation, redlining, and subprime lending.
Equally important, the democratic governance and community control that are fundamental to many shared equity programs—with roots in the early community land trust movement in rural Georgia—can be catalysts for equitable community development beyond the provision of affordable housing. More investigation of the great diversity that exists within shared equity housing programs and the places they serve will bring valuable lessons to the field, ultimately boosting its capacity to expand access to the benefits of homeownership and improve quality of life in neighborhoods across the U.S.”
A Review of Existing Literature
Anna Carlsson
2019 Joint Center Summer Community Service Fellow at NeighborWorks America®
https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/harvard_jchs_shared_equity_housing_lit_review_carlsson_2019.pdf
Founder @ BiophiliaScape TT
“The homeownership and asset-building literature is clear about the importance of homeownership to wealth accumulation. For most households, a home represents the bulk of their net worth; for low-income households, it may represent their only opportunity to build wealth for themselves and their families. Following the tumultuous housing experience that accompanied the Great Recession, it is critical for low-income homeownership advocates to identify a policy that provides access to real estate investments, while also minimizing the risk of failure. Research shows that while wealth accumulation is the biggest hurdle to low-income homeownership, federal and state policies continue to pursue income and credit-based barriers instead; meanwhile, local policies often pursue programs that allow affordable housing subsidies to leak away overtime.”
Ehlenz, M. M., & Taylor, C. (2019). Shared Equity Homeownership in the United States: A Literature Review. Journal of Planning Literature, 34(1), 3–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/0885412218795142
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0885412218795142