评论
打印
Officials in many American cities say they want companies to turn empty office buildings into housing.
美国许多城市的官员表示，他们希望公司将空置的写字楼改造成住宅。
These housing plans, known as office-to-housing conversions, can help downtown business areas that became empty as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
这些被称为“写字楼—住宅”的房屋改造计划可以帮助因新冠疫情而空置的市中心商业区。
Some policy makers consider conversions a way to increase the supply of less costly, or affordable, housing.
一些政策制定者认为，改建是增加廉价住宅供应量的一种方式。
Critics doubt the positive effects of these changes.
批评人士对这些变化的积极影响表示怀疑。
In the fall of 2022, the Congressional Research Services, or CRS, released a report.
2022年秋天，国会研究服务部发布了一份报告。
The report noted that housing costs in the United States have become a big issue.
报告指出，美国的住房成本已经成为一个大问题。
That is because housing prices are high, housing supplies are limited, and mortgage interest rates are rising.
这是因为房价高企，住房供应量有限，抵押贷款利率正在上升。
The report noted that there have been some increases in new house building activities.
报告指出，新房建设活动有所增加。
But problems related to rising building costs and the availability of labor and materials remain.
但与不断上涨的建筑成本以及劳动力和材料的可获得性相关的问题仍然存在。
At the same time, vacancy rates at downtown office buildings continue to rise.
与此同时，市中心写字楼的空置率继续上升。
Vacancy rates show how much unused office space there is.
空置率表明了未使用办公室的数量。
The real estate business CBRE said the vacancy rate was 12.2 percent in the last three months of 2019.
房地产企业世邦魏理仕表示，2019年最后三个月的空置率为12.2%。
The number increased to 17.8 percent in the first three months of 2023.
2023年前三个月，这一数字增加到17.8%。
Some places with the lowest use of office space include San Francisco with a vacancy rate of 29.4 percent, Houston at 23.6 percent, Philadelphia at 21.7 percent and Washington, D.C. at 20.3 percent.
办公空间使用率最低的地方包括：旧金山空置率为29.4%，休斯顿为23.6%，费城为21.7%，华盛顿特区为20.3%。
As a result of limited housing supply and the increasing number of empty office buildings, a number of cities are offering lower taxes for building developers.
由于住房供应量有限和空置写字楼数量不断增加，许多城市正在为建筑开发商提供较低的税收。
These tax breaks aim to increase office-to-housing conversions.
这些税收减免措施旨在增加“写字楼—住宅”的改建规模。
One requirement is that a set percentage of apartments are offered at below-market prices.
其中一项要求是，一定比例的公寓以低于市场价的价格出售。
In January, Pittsburgh announced it was accepting ideas to produce more affordable housing through the "conversion of...underutilized office space."
今年1月，匹兹堡宣布，其正在接受通过“改造……未充分利用的办公空间”来建造更多经济适用房的想法。
Underutilized means that the space is not being used.
Underutilized的意思是空间未被使用。
In October, Boston released a plan aimed at improving downtown.
去年10月，波士顿发布了一项旨在改善市中心状况的计划。
The plan included a push for more housing, some of which would come from office conversions.
该计划包括推动建造更多住宅，其中一些住宅是由写字楼改造而成的。
And Seattle in Washington state launched a competition in April for downtown building owners and design companies to come up with conversion ideas.
华盛顿州西雅图市在4月份发起了一项竞赛，邀请市中心的建筑业主和设计公司提出改造想法。
In Washington DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser wants office-to-housing conversions to help repopulate the downtown area.
在华盛顿特区，市长穆丽尔·鲍泽希望将写字楼改造为住宅，以增加市中心地区的居住人口。
Her plan, announced earlier this year, seeks to add 15,000 new residents downtown, adding to the approximately 25,000 who already live here.
她的计划于今年早些时候宣布，该计划旨在在市中心增加1.5万名新居民，现有居民约2.5万人。
"We're not going to have as many workers downtown as we had before the pandemic," Bowser said earlier this year.
鲍泽今年早些时候曾说：“市中心的员工数量不如疫情前那么多了。”
"Our job is to make sure that we are getting more people downtown."
“我们的工作是确保市中心有更多的人。”
But critics have doubts about the conversion push.
但批评人士对推动改建计划持怀疑态度。
Housing advocates worry that the affordable housing requirements could be reduced or pushed aside.
住房倡导者担心，经济适用房要求可能会减少或被搁置一边。
Even supporters of the conversions say that giving tax breaks to big developers is not the best tool to reach their goals.
即使是改建计划的支持者也表示，给大型开发商减税并不是实现他们目标的最佳工具。
"Developers who feel it's going to benefit their bottom line will do it without an incentive," said Erica Williams, director of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute.
华盛顿特区财政政策研究所所长埃里卡·威廉姆斯说：“那些认为这将会对他们的盈亏底线有利的开发商会在没有激励的情况下这么做。”
"This is a very costly proposal for an unproven program."
“对于一个未经证实的计划来说，这是一个非常昂贵的提议。”
And, as increasing numbers of employers turn to hybrid work, some question whether people will want to move to downtown areas if they are not required to work in an office every day.
而且，随着越来越多的雇主转向混合办公，一些人质疑，如果人们不需要每天在办公室工作，他们是否还会愿意搬到市中心。
Last January, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said at the United States Conference of Mayors meetings in Washington "You have to make downtown a neighborhood — somewhere that's living and playful and active."
去年1月，匹兹堡市长埃德·盖尼在华盛顿举行的美国市长会议上说，“必须把市中心变成一个社区——一个充满生机、有趣和活跃的地方。”
Chuck D'Aprix of Downtown Economics, a development advisory company, said it can be difficult to get new residents in former downtown business areas.
开发咨询公司Downtown Economics的查克·德普利克斯说，在以前的市中心商业区很难找到新居民。
The businesses that residents need are different from the businesses needed by daytime office workers.
居民需要的企业与白天上班族需要的企业是不同的。
Such businesses include less costly food stores, childcare centers, pet supply shops, hardware stores and auto repair businesses.
这些企业包括价格较低的食品店、托儿中心、宠物用品店、五金店和汽车修理店。
And those places need to stay open past office hours.
这些地方需要在办公时间之后继续营业。
"A lot of those services simply aren't available right now in small city downtowns or mid-sized city downtowns, you know, they close up at night," D'Aprix said.
德普利克斯说：“许多这样的服务目前在小城市中心或中等城市中心根本没有，而且它们在晚上关门。”
I'm John Russell.
约翰·拉塞尔为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
