By PAWAN MEHRA
About five years ago, my brother moved here from Pennsylvania, financially and emotionally devastated from a divorce. He got an average job and was offered deed-restricted housing. He asked me for advice. My answer: "It's a trap. Run, run, run away from it."
I'll give you the reasons for my advice below. Instead of letting him get trapped into affordable housing, we gave him emotional support and supported him to purchase acreage in Fairfield and a small house in Hailey. As he could not afford to live in it, he rented his house in Hailey. He built a temporary shack on the land in Fairfield, roughing it, and he commuted to his job in Ketchum for two years. The property value increased and he is rich on paper, living in his house that he has since remodeled.
Once again, he is part of the American dream. He was able to delay gratification, but only for two years in this great land of opportunity. I assure you that had he taken the affordable housing, he would still be working at the same job, trapped on the metaphorical "treadmill." We did not let "the man" trap him.
In most cases, the American dream is fulfilled by delaying gratification and appreciating real estate values and freedom guaranteed in our Constitution. The moment I sign for subsidized housing, I am jeopardizing all three.
Deed-restricted houses have tremendous, tangible barriers. Capital growth of such owners is limited to a low percentage as is the freedom of liquidity.
It is the intangible demoralization that takes a greater toll:
1. The golden cage is a trap that greatly lessens a person's mobility and freedom toward upward mobility. (Ask the people in Aspen.)
2. It ratifies our human tendency not to want to delay gratification. So, we settle for comfort in the moment and pay for it by mortgaging our future.
3. No matter what one calls it, or how one justifies it, it is still restricted. If it walks and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. No layers of denial will fool your psyche and the psychological cost of living that way, denial or not, justification or not. It will take its toll. Eight out of 10 people, statistically, will pass this legacy on.
The well-meaning folks who are for affordable housing are not doing it deliberately. They, too, may be in denial. Don't believe me? Let me give you some historical examples of mass entrapments that have created immense problems, where the fix was worse than the cause. "The man" never does this himself. He does it through elected officials, the government.
1. Native Americans were trapped on reservations and totally disenfranchised. Did you know that almost everyone believed, including the Native Americans, that this was good for them? It has taken these good folks 200 or more years to slowly become franchised.
2. Slavery was not only a birthright, but it was considered good for barbarians. It was justified that conditions were better than their native countries, all needs taken care of and their souls would be saved by conversion to Christianity. To fix this mess, created by "the man," we had the bloodiest civil war, and welfare has had a devastating psychological negative impact toward excellence and upward mobility. It's another entrapment, though well-meaning.
3. Illegal immigration was actually encouraged by "the man"—cheap labor by disenfranchised people. Now it has become a problem, a catch-22. If they close the borders after creating the mess, they lose the vote. Greed disguised as empathy allowed this illegal process to continue for decades, and now, because it's a mess, we want to deport them all and wonder why our culture and language are under assault. I am sure if the past is a guide, the fixes will create more problems than the cause.
My advice to those who are eligible for such housing is the same I gave to my brother. Run. Run the other way. Let the deed-restricted houses rot. Don't let "the man" capture you. Here is the scenario that will follow if you delay gratification. By not getting entrapped it will benefit you and surely your heirs. "The man" will find other ways to maintain the extravagant estates. Some always do. But don't let it be at your expense. Don't get trapped in the "golden cage."
The golden handcuffs might appear to be invisible, but they are very real.
Pawan Mehra is a resident of Sun Valley.
