Posted by
Playful Walrus on Wednesday, August 13, 2008 3:28:41 PM
The City of LA Council wants “rich” people to pay for other people to live like they do, where they do. Los Angeles Times staff writer Jessica Garrison reports.
New condominium projects in neighborhoods such as Brentwood, Studio City and other affluent parts of Los Angeles could be required to include units for very poor people if the City Council approves a new housing plan as expected today.
Wow, either those units will have to be really, really small, or the other owners will be subsidizing a posh home for other people. Guess which one it will be? That’s the way these schemes work.
Wouldn’t you just love to pay a lot of money for a high-end condo in an upscale area, only to find out that you are subsidizing the people living in the condo next to you, who don’t have to pay anywhere near what you pay? And then they get the same vote on the condo board as you. Nice, huh?
I hope the law mandates that buyers be informed of this. I’m sure it will do wonders for property values, too.
The commitment to a so-called inclusionary zoning law, which has been a contentious topic in Los Angeles for years, is part of a comprehensive housing plan that the city must adopt to be eligible for hundreds of millions of dollars in state housing bond funds.
Why are there even state housing bond funds? Why is the state involved in this issue at all?
Advocates for the poor hail the plan as a significant symbolic move.
"The city is taking a huge step forward in figuring out how to address the housing crisis," said Peter Kuhns, an organizer for the Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, a group of low-income residents.
Hey, I’d like it too if I could force other people to pay for me to live it up! But there is no housing crisis. Housing costs too much? Then increase the supply. Let the market work. I’m upgrading to a better house myself. It’s not too shabby, but of course I would have bought an even better house in a better neighborhood if I could afford it. Unfortunately, too much of my money is taken away in taxes to support people I don’t even get thank-you cards from.
Some people argue that wealthier areas need housing for people with low incomes, particularly so that the people who work in domestic capacities for these rich people can live close to where they work. Of course, I’m sure more wealthy people would be willing to provide room and board as part of the compensation and just have their employees live on-site (either a room of the condo or a house on the estate) if previous laws to “protect” non-owner residents weren’t so discouraging of such offers.
Most wealthy people have worked very hard and taken big risks to get to place in life where they could afford nice homes in nice neighborhoods. Nobody is entitled to join them without working for it.
Government exists to protect people from harm to themselves or their property by others via negligence, force, theft, or fraud. It should not get involved in such forcible wealth redistribution. I mean, why should be a city council’s job to make sure that someone gets to live in a home that is above their means?