I read with great interest the commentary (http://www.capegazette.com/node/151318) from Drew McKay and Sandra Derr regarding the lack of affordable housing in Sussex County.
As a fairly new resident of Delaware (June 2017) I have been wondering where the lower cost of living in Delaware has been hiding. Yes, taxes are low, and we have no sales tax. But housing is another issue all together.
Without making a long statement of how zoning for affordable housing is a Pandora's box, let me mention where there could be affordable housing. Living in the Long Neck area of Millsboro, there are many manufactured home communities that offer less expensive housing.
The "elephant in the room," however, is the increasingly expensive lot rent we are forced to pay by owners who decide that they have to keep up with increasing rents. Not only are they squeezing out many retirees who live here, but it also devalues the homes that are here. We cannot sell our homes for $100,000 when there is an additional $600 tacked on for lot rent (I'm being conservative here).
So as the rent goes up, the homes become devalued, as buyers must take into consideration the total cost they will pay monthly. Yes, manufactured homes are considered less desirable than a stick-built home. But they offer decent housing at an affordable price.
But as long as landowners are pretty much given free rein to increase the lot rent, manufactured homes will become less and less affordable. Although there are some laws that limit how much the rent can go up (and only since 2013), there are enough loopholes available to the landowners to give them carte blanche to "make improvements" and pass the cost on to the homeowners. We homeowners have no say in these improvements, we're just expected to pay for them. To me that is taxation without representation, a premise, I believe, our country fought for against Great Britain.
In closing, something has to give. Sussex County residents can't survive the escalating real estate prices being forced upon us. Builders are catering to summer clients and wealthy retirees. They, I believe, are in the minority. It's time to consider the rest of the population and where they will live.
Karen Zemko
Millsboro
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