Readers React: Jobs must follow housing — to the Inland Empire and Antelope Valley

To the editor: Shane Phillips points out the obvious — that high housing costs are due to an imbalance between supply and demand. Yet he fails to describe the less obvious reasons behind this imbalance. (“Why is L.A. too pricey? Blame low vacancy rates, not luxury high-rises,” Opinion, May 17)

Southern California is largely built out and has major constraints. It is bounded to the west by an ocean, to the north and east by mountains and national forest, and to the south by Camp Pendleton. It is the densest major metropolitan area of the country.

Housing development opportunities are located primarily in the Inland Empire and the High Desert, far from the concentration of jobs along the coast. This situation will only get worse with the ongoing placement of high-tech jobs in “Silicon Beach.”

Unless the region finds ways of spreading job opportunities to areas where there are homes, soaring housing costs and intolerable traffic congestion will impair the future economic competitiveness of Southern California.

Michael Armstrong, Hawthorne

..

To the editor: One cannot define the term “affordable housing” without knowing the financial situation of the potential renter or buyer. It cannot be defined any other way.

South Gate, Cudahy, Watts, Compton, Bell, Bell Gardens, Wilmington, Willowbrook, Sylmar, Maywood and other such places may not be towns where one desires to live, but they are neighborhoods where one can live relatively inexpensively. Those in Beverly Hills are, generally, “affording” their housing. The same is true for Bel-Air, Hollywood, Echo Park and Silver Lake.

Los Angeles is far more than the beach to the west, the Harbor Freeway to the east, the Santa Monica mountains to the north and the 10 Freeway to the south. Those who cannot afford these areas should consider moving to Maywood.

Scott Meyers, Los Angeles

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook