More-over, the government agency is using a much better definition!
Affordable should mean affordable, not taxpayer-funded.
Affordable should mean affordable, not taxpayer-funded.
I completely disagree. The NIMBYs you complain about are the ones running the local governments. Doing the things you suggest require some higher level of government to basically take the place over and force these things over the objections of the politically-connected locals.
Instead, I think these overpriced places need to be made to die. Let them feel the full effects of their policies: make it so no service workers will work there for less than $200k/year, and just going out to eat costs $1000/person. If a higher-level (state or federal) government does anything, it should be for the lowly workers, to do things like help them relocate to cheaper places and leave these overpriced places full of dried-out poop on the street and boarded-up stores because the NIMBYs didn't want "those people" living anywhere near them.
The reason there's no affordable housing (or public transit) is because municipalities don't want it. They're run by NIMBYs who block every attempt at building it, and who run up the costs for what housing there is. These people need to feel the consequences of their actions, instead of having some higher-level government compensate for them.