Today’s Topic

Is affordable housing a basic democratic right? Who is responsible for providing it?

In 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, the federal government formed the Home Owner’s Loan Corp. to help families facing financial ruin refinance their home mortgages.

It was not the first time the government became involved in a federal housing program but it set the stage for the future. By the time the Depression ended, the United States had established that government would help provide a basic human need: a home. But 60 years later, decent housing remains beyond the reach of many.

The problem is especially acute in California, where the gap between wages and housing prices is higher than any other state in the nation, according to Peter Dreier, a professor of public policy at Occidental College.

A philosophical battle over how to provide affordable housing in California is being played out in Venice, where members of the community are torn over whether to renovate or demolish the aging Lincoln Place apartments.

Lincoln Place residents argue in today’s In The Neighborhood about whether to tear down the complex and replace it with a mixed-income housing project. It is an emotional subject because housing is at the heart of every social and economic issue in American society.

“Housing is related to everything from voting to getting social services to getting a job,” says Abel Valenzuela, an assistant professor of urban planning at UCLA’s Cesar Chavez Center for Chicano Studies. “Housing is the basis for most of the social and economic activities that enable a citizen to function in everyday society.”

The private sector, with the encouragement of government tax incentives, is playing an active role today in providing mixed housing. “We try to develop balanced communities,” says Dawn McCormick, spokesperson for the Irvine Co. real estate development firm. “We want people working in the community to be able to live in the community.”

No one argues with that statement where new development is concerned. But the issue is stickier at Lincoln Place, where existing affordable housing is at risk.

Some argue, however, that such battles distract from a far more important issue, the deductibility of home mortgage interest payments.

“There’s this fiction that government only helps the poor,” says Dreier. “All wealthy people are subsidized. Homeowner interest deductions cost the federal government $47 billion last year. All of Beverly Hills gets more housing subsidies than South Central or East L.A.”

Dreier advocates a progressive homeowner tax break pegged to income.

The larger social benefits of affordable housing might also be worth considering.

“If people are sleeping four families to a small apartment, there is no conducive atmosphere for growth and nurturing,” says Ginger Garcia of Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit group dedicated to building low-cost housing. “We believe that if people have a safe haven they can break the cycle of poverty.”