‘Tripling up’ to buy

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Good morning. Today’s must-read is an excellent trend story in the LA Times Opinion section noting that the ‘working poor are tripling up to buy homes in the ‘burbs.’

The story, by USC urban planning expert William Fulton, explores an unusual trend: downtown, with its new condos and lofts, is drawing more and more affluent buyers; while the working poor with ownership ambitions are often tripling up to afford suburban homes.

Fulton: ‘If a $500,000 house requires that buyers have $100,000 in annual income to qualify for a mortgage, it only makes sense that multiple wage-earners making $20,000 to $30,000 each could join to buy it and settle in.’

Fulton writes that multiple families in single-family homes are driving up population densities in mostly Latino suburbs such as Pico Rivera, Rosemead and Fountain Valley. Greater density means, well greater density -- three working families in a home means up to six cars, which don’t fit in a driveway. ‘Already Oxnard has ‘bitten the bullet’ and allowed residents to pave over part of their front yards for parking.’

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Photo Credit: Reuters