Raising the Roof Over Housing

In one more effort to ease the severe crunch in low-income housing, Mayor Tom Bradley has proposed a new housing commission and a housing preservation and production department. If the Los Angeles City Council approves, the housing shortage would immediately move up on the list of City Hall priorities.

The new housing team’s first task would be to draft a new housing policy and get City Hall behind it. Federal housing funds have been sharply cut over the past decade and there is no sign of imminent improvement. Combined with the private sector’s reluctance to get into low-income housing on a big scale, the cuts mean that local government must continue to expand its role.

The city must concentrate its housing efforts on poor families. More than 150,000 low-income families spend more than half their incomes on rent, according to city officials. An estimated 40,000 additional families pay rent to live in dank garages, according to city housing experts. Another 35,000 men, women and children live on the streets or as best they can, according to the city’s figures. These homeless and near-homeless families must be at the top of any list for whatever limited housing assistance is available.

The mayor’s Blue Ribbon Committee for Affordable Housing recommended a housing commission about a year ago. Bradley, with strong support from several members of the council, has improved on that by proposing a housing department, which will assume the housing duties of the city’s Community Development Department, and elevating what was proposed as an advisory commission to a more powerful body with oversight authority--in other words, a commission with teeth.

Under Bradley’s proposal, the mayor will appoint four commissioners and the City Council will choose three members. They should pack the seven-member board with housing experts and advocates, compassionate civic and corporate leaders, veteran tenants and community activists. The new housing commission must be both watchdog and guide for the housing department. The emphasis must be on efficiency and creativity. Strong leadership is needed to tackle a shameful housing shortage that makes life difficult for many poor and moderate-income families.