Put a moratorium on development
Re “Irvine is told to add 35,600 homes in 7 years,” July 25
People should be appalled to learn that the state Department of Housing and Community Development has decreed the construction of yet another 700,000 houses in Southern California by 2014.
This in a six-county region plagued by massive traffic congestion, health-impairing air pollution, schools with classes of 35 pupils, overtaxed emergency rooms, overcrowded prisons, drought, inadequate water sources, fire danger and more.
Logically, a government agency that has the power to require increased construction would instead set a long-overdue moratorium on new subdivisions in this region until the above crises are overcome.
As for affordable housing, there are tens of thousands of homes at all price levels languishing on the market today, with many more each day because of exponentially increasing foreclosures.
What’s needed are wages sufficient to afford existing homes.
Howard S. Hurlbut
Redlands
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