PLANNING WATCH – There are vacant houses and apartments across Los Angeles, yet LA’s City Hall insists that we have a housing shortage that can only be met with widescale up-zoning that allows more housing on existing land. Unstated is the obvious, that developers will swoop in to buy up vacant stores and housing sites when SB79 is finally adopted in Los Angeles.
Is something fishy about these contradictory claims? The metropolitan area is simultaneously experiencing year-after-year of population loss, yet there is still a housing shortage. Either this claim is incorrect, or those who remain in LA are moving into larger apartments, but as individuals. But, if this were the case, then the percentage of people living in overcrowded conditions would be going down, but this this type of overcrowding is still rising.
There is an explanation for this contradiction though. An increasing number of Angelenos are either homeless or live in overcrowded conditions – despite nearby apartments (that they cannot afford.) This is the explanation which makes the most sense, and it also explains the photo above. People living in tents cannot afford to move into expensive and vacant housing, even when it is nearby…