Sometimes, there really are commies...

...and Mayor Jim Naugle of Fort Lauderdale knows how to spot 'em.

Sun-Sentinel: Taxing developers green for cheap homes looks red to mayor

FORT LAUDERDALE · Mega-developers and the city's mayor are shooting down a proposed affordable housing law, calling it unfair, communistic and doomed to failure. People could afford a place to live, the mayor said, if they were willing to work harder.

Mayor Jim Naugle, a conservative and brash politician serving his final term, said people mistakenly think they're entitled to an affordable single-family house on a 40-hour work routine. They need to work more hours, and even then settle for a condo or townhouse, Naugle said.

See what happens when politicians don't have to run again? Term limits, baby, term limits.

"I'm supposed to subsidize some schlock sitting on the sofa and drinking a beer, who won't work more than 40 hours a week?'' he asked. "I deny that there is a problem. You can buy condos all day for $160,000.''

I think Hizzoner meant "schlub", not "schlock".

Naugle's comments may be contested by the working-class citizens who've told the city they want a home but can't afford it. But his ideas might hit home in other circles, where a city proposal to make developers slash prices or pay a fee was met with skepticism.

So, the working class is automatically socialist? That is so nineteenth century.

"We ought to let the free market work,'' said Bill Scherer, a lawyer-developer on the city's Downtown Development Authority.

The proposal asks developers to give up big money -- $1.5 million on a 100-condo complex, for example -- for the theoretical good of the community. The city's law, as drafted, would make residential developers pay for affordable housing, either by providing it within their housing complexes, or paying fees into a trust fund to subsidize housing for the middle class. Families making up to $69,720 -- which is 20 percent more than the area's median family income -- would be eligible for a government boost.

New York has rent control. The federal government has Section 8 housing aid. So, this isn't the first time government has gotten involved in the real estate market to help people afford a place to live.

Due to time constraints, we now move to further action.

"The concept of this ordinance is from each according to his ability, to each according to need, which is the Communist Manifesto,'' said Naugle, who calls the proposed law a "luxury housing tax.''

"One person is working two or three jobs to get ahead and one person isn't. Should we tax the person that's working hard to get ahead, to pay for the one who isn't?'' he said.

Amen to that, Brother. But you're spitting into the wind.

Jim Carras, head of the private, nonprofit Broward Housing Partnership, countered the mayor's Karl Marx rhetoric with a paraphrase from President Truman."

`A decent place to live is the right of every American.' We have maybe stepped away from how we fund it, but even the most conservative Republicans in Congress and the state legislature see a role for government," said Carras.

That would be the noted economist and philosopher Harry Truman.

Housing prices in Broward continue to shock some buyers. The median home price in Broward County in March -- the price at which half the homes sell for more and half the homes sell for less -- was $368,100 for a house and $202,600 for a condo.

Still, according to a recent study by Strategic Planning Group Inc., that means most condos are within financial reach of most buyers, though it might not be the size or location a buyer is seeking.

Welcome to the real world.

A debate about Fort Lauderdale's proposed law might have been expected, considering what's at stake.

"Gas is unaffordable. Now, do gas station owners need to go out and supply affordable gas?'' said Doug Eagon, president of Stiles Corp., which built many of downtown's big towers.

Ssshhhh...don't give them any ideas.

Developers said they would pass the costs to other buyers, leading to increased housing prices overall.

Major developers on the Downtown Development Authority originally supported the concept of an affordable housing regulation. But they don't like the results. They want it rewritten to offer incentives to developers, and to spread the cost across the general public, by using tax dollars, for example.

How can the free market survive when the ostensible friends of the market are in favor of screwing with it as much as the left-fascists are?