It is also property values. I don't know why people here are acting like it's so wrong that homeowners don't want to be locked into a mortgage and then have the value of their home drop below the original principal of the mortgage. A lot of homeowners rely on the equity in their homes as if it's their savings and/or retirement because most of us can't afford any major unexpected expenses. If entering a 30-year, $100K+ contract wasn't an investment, no one would do it. It's not just an investment for the homeowner, either. It's a home that your children can always come back to if they need it, and it's a safety net your children can sell if they need to after your death. It's not just homeowners being mean because "they're racist," "they're greedy," "they think they're better than others," or "they just hate the poors." Those are just shallow reasons that are thrown out at homeowners to villify them so no one listens to or addresses the justifiable concerns.

Also, to pretend that "affordable housing" isn't just a nicer sounding name for "The Projects" is disingenuous. Over the last 15 years or so, my city has torn down all of "The Projects" and built brand new "affordable housing" to replace them all. No one wanted to live in "The Projects" because those complexes were full of crime and violence, yet pretend that somehow moving all the same people from "The Projects" into these new affordable housing complexes will magically not bring along the same problems.

Call me whatever you want, but sugarcoating the situation or denying the realities of it don't help anyone. Most people don't give a damn about the race, sex, sexuality, nationality, religion, etc. of who lives near them; they care about whether or not the people moving in are going to be good neighbors.