Shelter Imperative
Half a million of the poorest men, women and children in Los Angeles live in houses, apartments, garages or cardboard boxes that are either too expensive, too dangerous or too flimsy. For a city with the wealth and potential of Los Angeles, housing conditions are both scandalous and critical.
The creation of a new City Council housing committee headed by Gloria Molina is a good sign that city officials finally are prepared to give the city’s housing disaster the attention it demands. Molina is determined to get a proper housing effort organized, to get the hammers swinging and concrete pouring and to concentrate on the areas of greatest need.
Molina soon plans to take up one proposal that is crucial to solving the housing shortage. Her committee will consider creation of a strong commission of housing experts, civic leaders and others who care deeply about the plight of people without decent housing and who can, among other things, get the city’s many housing activities moving in the same direction.
Perhaps more important than a watchdog role, a commission of people dedicated to cleaning up the problem could serve as a valuable source of ideas for raising money, for long-range planning and creative new approaches to housing without getting tangled up in politics. Mayor Tom Bradley’s blue-ribbon housing committee recommended such a body months ago; it is past time to act on the recommendation.
The city needs more money to address housing needs and it must move aggressively to get it. One potential source would be a fee on commercial construction that would raise money for housing. That is a sound idea. The workers in those new office buildings will need housing. A fee of $7.50 a square foot would raise $75 million a year for housing. The City Council has called for bids for a study, required by law, to determine if commercial development has any environmental impact on housing needs. Also at issue is whether such a fee would slow up development in the downtown area or other parts of the city. Similar fees have been levied in other cities, including Boston and San Francisco, without creating a drag on new development.
Thousands of families are trapped in poor housing. They live in old brick apartments threatened by earthquakes, in housing projects invaded by crime, in airless garages and in other cramped quarters. They can do no better. Los Angeles can and must do better.
