Thursday, February 16, 2017

Housing crisis, causes are "all political"



Image result for Pacifica, CA traffic picture
Build here, desert somewhere CA.
Image result for Pacifica, CA traffic picture
Yep, no place to build in Pacifica, CA.
"In one sense, California’s housing crisis is a matter of simple math. This state was not building anywhere close to the number of homes that would be required to accommodate the addition of 300,000 residents a year over the past decade. Demand is greatly outstripping supply, and it’s only going to get worse with the anticipated population growth of 3.4 million by 2025.

So why isn’t that construction happening? The causes are all politica1. There are no inherently evil intentions in the people putting up these barriers. Californians who are fortunate enough to own a home in a comfortable community don’t want to disrupt their good life with newcomers clogging roads, overcrowding schools or overrunning their parks. They worry about the impact of property values.
Taxpayer groups don’t want to subsidize affordable housing. Politicians want to require below-market housing mandates that may or may not have any correlation with a development’s economic viability. Unions demand that any government-promoted housing must require union-level wages. Environmentalists and neighborhood groups want to reserve the right to challenge developments even if they fit within zoning guidelines. No city wants to be told how much it must contribute to the greater good of making its region or its state more affordable.

But add up each of those forces — and the clout that each brings to bear — and it’s clear to see why not enough building is getting done. So the question arises: Do we have the collective will to change that dynamic, when it results in the nation’s highest poverty rate, our children unable to settle down near us and businesses struggling to recruit and retain workers in a transient economy?
So far, the answer has been no."  Read more.

Note photographs.  "Bicycle ride on empty land from Jill Outside, Just the adventure of life..., '2015 photos/February: Pacifica, CA'." Zzyzx Rd, facepage image to Atlas Obscura, "34 Unusual Things to Do in California."  Zzyzx Road location, "Six miles southwest of Baker, Calif. on I-15, Zzyzx Road leads 5 miles south into Mojave National Preserve along the western shore of Soda Lake (dry)."

Posted by Kathy Meeh

15 comments:

Tom Clifford said...

Zzyzx rd. was the site of a mass grave in a Michael Connelly " Harry Bosch" novel.

a fun read as are all the "Bosch books.

Anonymous said...

Want some cheeze to go with that whine?

Anonymous said...

@5:41 Do you enjoy being the antagonist? Or are you just generally scornful?
Fix Pacifica's pro-development stance is well known. How does posting mocking remarks help you or anyone? Perhaps, you have some good ideas? An alternative?
You can be respectful while disagreeing. I know you can do it!

Anonymous said...

It's a very disingenuous political environment when the same people who feign concern about the less fortunate continue to block every single attempt to either build affordable housing or create a business environment that could actually lift some of these folks out of their predicaments. Taxing a tiny group of rental property owners by pushing rent control is a total head fake to take the spot light off of their hypocritical self serving agenda.
"No growth. I've got mine".

Anonymous said...

I do not respect biased opinion masquerading as objective analysis. I am scornful of incorrect generalities that only contribute to division and disagreement.

Kathy Meeh (housing shortage reality) said...

541, 954, got a solution (or several) for our State (including our City and this Region) to deal with what is becoming an obvious, compounding housing problem?
"This state was not building anywhere close to the number of homes that would be required to accommodate the addition of 300,000 residents a year over the past decade. ... anticipated population growth of 3.4 million by 2025." (from the SF Chronicle Insight article).
Seems to me your 954 comment diversion is false; and in this City, what 940 said is completely true (based upon decades of anti-growth obstruction, unfortunately).

Hi Tom 2/16, 830, didn't know your novel reference, ha!
Zzyzx Road also leads to Mojave desert/Soda Springs, CA, National Park Service. This link has been added to the article photograph section.

Anonymous said...

Housing crisis and Ca and cities want to be sanctuaries? Open your homes as sanctuaries, if you do not want more housing.

Anonymous said...

The solution is to NOT keep building houses to accommodate an ever-increasing population growth. Uncontrolled growth is a cancer, It will end up destroying us and everything we care about. Stop the insanity,

Anonymous said...

So, @9:11, should we do what China did and have a one-child policy? That worked so well that they recently killed the program. What other draconian solution do you propose? Forced sterilization? Ethnic cleansing? Or should we just build more housing for our ever increasing population, creating jobs and a decent living and financial environment in the process? By the way, how many kids do YOU have?

Anonymous said...

8:37 I'm with you. Hey faux-enviro humanitarians, put that empty garage or extra room in play. You could even offer a tent site in your backyard. If you don't want construction of affordable housing, help these poor people out with your own real estate.

Anonymous said...

Let's build more housing for our ever increasing population so we can accommodate everybody who wants to live here. Then we'll be like L.A.

Anonymous said...

@1:42, How do you propose we house the immigrants (the main driver of population growth) who serve you but would also like to have a decent and secure home along with some savings for their future? Or do you propose that we deport them all?

Anonymous said...

1:42 Fake equivalence.

Steve Snai said...

"Let's build more housing for our ever increasing population so we can accommodate everybody who wants to live here. Then we'll be like L.A."

Pacifica is over 50% permanent open space. It will never be like LA.

Anonymous said...

"We'll end up looking like LA" are the exact same words used by Lori Goldberg to help defeat the latest Quarry development vote.
Hmmmmmmm........