PLATFORM : Housing for All

There is a larger story here: the shameful lack of any really affordable housing in Southern California. If we as a society are truly serious about reducing overcrowding and substandard shelters, we must commit to creating temporary shelters, transitional housing and long-term affordable housing.

Who’s responsible for this? Developers must accept some responsibility for building housing for the variety of incomes that exist, even though it will mean less-than-whopping profits.

Elected officials must accept their responsibility as civic leaders to provide housing for the variety of incomes in their communities, which means requiring certain commitments from developers regardless of resistance and unpopularity. And last, all of us must accept living among people from income groups different from our own and put the ubiquitous fear of declining property values in perspective.