Raising the roof over housing

Re “Talk of Freeze on Condo Conversions Builds,” Aug. 9

Not all condos that are replacing apartments are conversions. Many of them follow the demolition of rent-controlled apartments. The Times didn’t include any input from the thousands of families whose rent-controlled apartments have been torn down in the last five years. Rent control may not be perfect, but it is currently the only protection that middle-income families have. A moratorium on conversions and demolitions could certainly be made to work to give the city time to find a solution that is equitable to both developers and middle-income families and still keeps the city coffers filled. All it takes is the political will for the City Council to listen to its constituents.

JANE DRUCKER

Studio City

*

Re “Who needs a timeout?” editorial, Aug. 15

This editorial made me see red, particularly the claim that “city officials can’t even prove that the problem they’re trying to solve exists.” What?

I invite the editorial writer to simply drive in Studio City to see the mixture of empty lots formerly occupied by rent-controlled apartments and dozens of new, costly condos and apartments. We longtime renters now live with daily apprehension, worrying when those not yet evicted will be next. Our economic group is being sacrificed by the thousands to clear the way for $800,000 condos. How gloriously the “free market” works -- for those with a great deal of money. What a barbaric philosophy.

VALERIE YAROS

Studio City

*

You contend that regulating condo conversion will impede the supply of affordable housing because it will cause developers to avoid condo conversion altogether. Perhaps there will be less condo conversion, but this would not decrease the supply of affordable housing. In fact, it would increase it. Condo conversion takes rent-controlled properties and converts them to ownership properties that are mostly unaffordable to the tenants who occupied the rental units. Low- and moderate-income tenants are replaced with higher-income owners: a decrease in affordable housing. The market’s preference for conversion does not address this decrease in affordable housing, so government regulation is necessary.

Finally, referring to affordable-housing advocates and tenants as “an array of noisy interest groups” is the kind of name-calling one would expect from talk radio. Your readers deserve better.

GREG SPIEGEL

Western Center on Law and Poverty

Los Angeles