Why it’s so hard to fix housing overcrowding in Los Angeles
The city has been trying to solve one of the biggest problems facing it: a housing supply shortage.
The problem is real, although it’s a much smaller one than you might think.
And with a number of high-profile politicians like Mayor Eric Garcetti, state Sen. Paul Krekorian and U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman making their thoughts about the matter public, there is plenty of discussion and debate.
But the fundamental problems are there.
First, there just aren’t enough units to meet demand.
“The crisis is real. It’s the fundamental problem and not just something I can solve with a new housing permit and a new law,” said Krekorian.
But Krekorian added that he isn’t in a position to solve the problem by himself.
“We need a solution, but we need the help and investment of all the cities, counties and private sectors in the entire country. Otherwise I can’t solve this problem,” he said.
The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday will debate the proposed Los Angeles Housing and Community Development Initiative, which would dedicate $14.7 million to the problem over the next five years.
The new money would go to the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development, which would distribute funding to local affordable housing agencies.
The first two years would be for pilot program, but then $14.7 million in the third year, $12.5 million in the fourth year and $1.7 million the fifth year, in the form of a grant.
In the initial pilot year, the program would fund three units of affordable housing a year. In the first year, $2.5 million would go toward the program.
That’s an average of $1,100 a unit, which puts a very small price tag on the problem. But it still adds up: with the current affordable housing stock in the city standing at around 2,100 units, for every unit of affordable housing in the pilot program, there would need to be between 30,000 and 40,000 units to be affordable to all of L.A. County’s population.
So it’s a multi-billion dollar housing problem that can’t be solved by private developers alone.
And the problem isn’t just in