Yes on Proposition H

ONE OF LOS ANGELES’ chief attractions used to be that it was so easy to live here. The traffic flowed, houses were fairly inexpensive, rents were low. There was plenty of choice. If you couldn’t afford a place by the beach, there was always the Valley, or down the Harbor Freeway, or maybe in Hollywood. You could live and work as a teacher, firefighter, medical assistant, construction worker or any one of the hundreds of jobs that pay modest salaries but support the civic infrastructure.

Perhaps you’ve noticed: It isn’t like that now. For too many police officers and nurses to be able to work in Los Angeles, they must get on the freeways and drive from distant counties, or else see close to half their income eaten up by rent. A growing number of renters here pay even more than that, and a majority spend a larger portion of their income on housing than federal guidelines say they should. Barely 12% of residents earn enough to afford a median-priced single-family home. Housing prices are keeping employers from attracting qualified workers.

Just to keep up with natural growth, L.A. should add about 10,000 housing units each year. But for more than a decade, only half that amount have been built. The housing market threatens to turn the city into a home for only the very rich and the very poor, with the middle class forced out. It’s a downward spiral that we can begin to reverse with Proposition H.

The measure is a $1-billion housing bond that would spur construction of affordable rental housing and help put a home purchase within reach of families that currently can’t scrape together a down payment or qualify for a loan. For the estimated 50,000 people living on L.A. streets, the bond measure would direct $250 million to construction of housing that would be paired with supportive services. Los Angeles cannot afford to continue ignoring the homeless problem, and this investment — still modest by national standards — would make the city eligible for more federal dollars.

The bonds would be paid back with property taxes averaging $14 for every $100,000 of assessed valuation. The typical homeowner would pay about $50 to $75 a year in additional property taxes. That’s a bargain, given the pressing need for low-cost housing, and considering the cost of city services that homeowners once paid for with much higher taxes.

Also on the ballot is Proposition J, which makes technical amendments to a previously passed fire station bond measure. The adjustment offers taxpayers more bang for their buck by allowing stations to be built on smaller lots. The Times urges a “yes” vote on Propositions H and J.