Affordable Housing For Economic Development
Bringing People With Jobs and Money to Illinois
Tired of the high cost of housing in your city? And the long commutes?
Leave the high cost areas shown in red and move to one of the Illinois counties
in the green areas below. Home purchase costs are much lower than in the expensive
parts of the country and they often have minimal traffic. The map below shows high
cost areas in red and orange, and lower cost areas in green. Most of the central portion
of the USA is green, which equals low cost homes and little traffic.
Source to view the map:
Wages are higher in the high home cost areas. But if you are retiring or can take your high
paid job with you and do it remotely, the center of the country will permit you to buy a nice
home that fits your budget. And no more rush hour!
Individuals can make this choice, but it could also be a strategy for companies to help their
workers. Companies who are located in very expensive locations could establish satellite
offices where voluntarily relocated employees could afford to buy homes, and enjoy much
lower commute times. Programs with Universities in college towns could train future
workers.
It can also be an economic development effort led by municipalities and the State of Illinois.
Bringing people into areas that have lost population and who bring in their retirement
and/or job is wise and profitable.
My daughter, friend, and I recently pursued this strategy. My friend and I retired 15 years
ago and moved to the sunbelt - my friend to Arizona and me to Florida. We recently
moved back to Illinois - in my case the death of my wife Beth Ruyle. In both cases the
much lower cost of housing was a factor. And my daughter moved from Seattle.
We purchased homes for much less than Seattle - Phoenix, and Sarasota.
Click to read more in a rough draft of the paper
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