Holes in Housing Policy
The West is synonymous with vistas and open space, so proposals to meet increased housing demand with skyscraper apartments, condos, townhouses and other high-density structures meet hard resistance in this region. Rising prices for any kind of dwelling in Southern California promote a dearth of construction that includes single-family homes. What we have here is a quality-of-life and price issue.
The American dream of owning a home might become achievable only to the wealthy if current trends continue. What leaders must do is embrace sensible policies that encourage greater housing density and mortgage assistance programs in a balance with traditional home developments. There is no other way to address exploding demand and the price spiral it promises.
Proposals to “build up” are strenuously opposed by many long-time Californians, some of whom lived here when small farms and ranches could still be seen among the tracts, the days when land was relatively cheap and plentiful. The region, stung by many years of bad or no planned developments, still discourages public policies that invite new construction of small and multifamily homes on small lots as solutions to the homeownership crisis.
In Los Angeles County, the median price of $182,000 already daunts first-time home buyers, and they face an even higher hurdle in Orange County with its median price of $233,000. In this range, few renters can come up with the down payment to qualify for a mortgage. Some could afford lower-priced condos, townhouses and other multi-family units, but such developments are often blocked by homeowner groups that oppose any perceived threat to their space or their property values.
Don’t expect major solutions from Washington. Andrew Cuomo, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, backs new programs for homeownership for low- and middle-income renters and a small increase in Section 8 federal housing subsidies that allow low-income tenants to rent market-priced housing, but that’s far from enough.
The housing squeeze is best dealt with at the state level. The crunch already threatens to contribute to an exodus of businesses and salaried employees whose taxes would otherwise support more jobs and services. Gov. Pete Wilson’s successor in Sacramento and the new Legislature will need to create more homeowner assistance programs that make it easier to get into a first home; preserve an existing 110,000 affordable housing units, largely for seniors and families with children, as federal subsidies expire; allot more low-income housing tax credits to nonprofit developers willing to tackle challenging projects in difficult neighborhoods. At the local level, county boards of supervisors, mayors and city councils need to make creating housing a higher priority.
Southern Californians have not come to terms with the worsening housing affordability problem. Few people are leaving the state and, as long as jobs are available, more will come and the pressure for housing will grow. Government agencies have the responsibility and authority to make a difference in this arena. They must not hesitate.
