Quality of Living and the Homeless

Donald Sizemore’s commentary (March 27) on the morality of the homeless problem gives well-earned praise to the City Council of Irvine for its efforts to convert a dog kennel into a shelter for homeless families. Few people realize that at the same time the council was taking action that unwittingly condemns thousands more to a life of homelessness.

At the very same meeting when the kennel conversion was approved, the council was approving a plan to reduce by thousands the number of homes that can eventually be built in Irvine. It may not be obvious that reducing development and preserving open space in Irvine makes people homeless, but it surely does. Here is how:

When someone moves into a new, $200,000 home in Irvine, they are usually moving up from a less expensive home, say in Anaheim. The family that buys that home may be moving from an apartment in Garden Grove.

At the bottom of the chain, a family may be given the opportunity to move out of a homeless shelter into government-assisted rental housing. The vacancy in the shelter allows a homeless family to move in off the street.

Certainly, some of the houses that are being eliminated from Irvine will be built elsewhere, but many will never be built anywhere. Adjoining cities will not readily accommodate the additional demand. Property values will be bid up. Housing will become a little less affordable to everyone.

When not enough homes are built to meet the demands of a growing population, the housing move-up chain never reaches the level of the economically disadvantaged. Irvine’s action will surely create more homeless families throughout the area, far more than can be housed in their dog kennel.

Most cities, not just Irvine, believe that approving less housing than the market demands is a means of preserving the city’s “quality of life.” It is the combined policies of thousands of city councils across the country that is creating the homeless crisis.

In the name of preserving quality of life, these city councils are shattering the quality of life for those at the bottom of the housing chain.

LINDA MARTIN

Newport Beach