The assumption here is that housing can't be affordable by nature, but has to be made affordable by government intervention. Is that the case? Would it be possible to build an apartment building that simply will be affordable, without the government giving the developer a pile of other people's money?
I also wonder about the incentive that's created when artificially affordable housing is provided in an area that's expensive because of high demand: doesn't that prevent a shortage of low-skill labor that would otherwise be a limiting factor in that demand? That is, if it's too expensive for many people who might work low-paying service and manual jobs to live nearby, the rising cost of that sort of labor might begin to lessen other people's desire to live there and businesses' desire to locate there, mitigating the housing problem.
I also wonder about the incentive that's created when artificially affordable housing is provided in an area that's expensive because of high demand: doesn't that prevent a shortage of low-skill labor that would otherwise be a limiting factor in that demand? That is, if it's too expensive for many people who might work low-paying service and manual jobs to live nearby, the rising cost of that sort of labor might begin to lessen other people's desire to live there and businesses' desire to locate there, mitigating the housing problem.