Affordable Housing: “Pressure From The Bottom, and Collaboration From The Top”

Since the annual Mayoral Housing Summit occurred today, I thought I would highlight an article from yesterday’s Daily Bruin. Here's the article.

Affordable Housing is obviously a problem throughout the region. Most people cannot afford to buy a home in Los Angeles County. Even renting has become a tough mountain to climb.

Drive down Central City East (skid row) in downtown Los Angeles, and you will see the obvious outcome of this tight housing market—homeless people fending for themselves on the streets.

Building more luxury apartments and lofts, in place of low-end housing units, only puts pressure on an affordable housing market that is imploding. So there are many in downtown Los Angeles that are saying, “Enough is enough.”

I have a chapter in my book that is titled, “Build Our House On Sand.” Here is an excerpt:
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“On the outside it seems simple. Why not rejuvenate decrepit urban centers with high-end residential complexes that hug commercial office towers so people traveling to work don’t have to trek hours on the freeway from their suburban hideaways? It’s reverse migration, alleviating the decades-old trend of suburban flight.

“But those who fight for the rights of the homeless and poor cry foul. Gentrification is a sin, they say. Many believe that allowing the gentry, or the high class, to move in and displace the poor and working class is an outrage. The displaced can barely cover a month’s rent, let alone purchase high-end residential lofts. To build towers of the American Dream that replace towers of poverty, is surely an insult to those who can only dream of a better life, so say the advocates.

“Urban renewal is not so simple. Does renovation trump displacement? Or does displacement justify halting urban renaissance?”
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Gentrification is a battle that pits developers against advocates. All because there are not enough places to live. If we had enough affordable units, this battle would be moot. People would have a place to sleep, and developers could build their luxury condos. Finding a solution becomes a “win-win” for everyone.

So let the advocates put pressure on community leaders to provide the means to solve our housing crisis.