Pondering "Housing That Work" According to Mayor Villaraigosa

Representatives from L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office and one of the FIVE agencies that deals with housing in Los Angeles held a meeting Thursday evening about the Mayor's housing initiative.

By taking a careful look at the image they presented above, I think you can pretty much tell what the Mayor of Los Angeles thinks about a certain part of his realm that generates a tremendous amount of revenue for his city.

I didn't know until the meeting that Pacific Coast Highway goes right through the middle of "San" and "Pedro" according to the Mayor's office.

The folks holding the meeting talked about, among other things, 20 Transit Oriented Districts which would have new housing created in areas where transit can be best provided for the new residents.

I am quite sure you already know how many of the 20 Transit Oriented Districts are being planned for San Pedro in the five year plan.

It appears that the city of L.A. wants about 20,000 more housing units built in the next five years with a little over 14,000 of them in developments consisting of "inclusionary" housing (Low-income, affordable housing) and "workforce" housing for those folks making less than about $78,000 per year.

You may wish to be reminded that the Ponte Vista at San Pedro site is:

Currently the largest residential development project in the city of Los Angeles after Playa Vista.

Not placed anywhere near a Transit Oriented District.

Had a developer who did not want any "inclusionary" housing, but wanted only market rate housing developed.

According to slides presented at the meeting, there were plenty of housing units built for people making over $71,000 dollars per year.

For folks making $71,000 to $119,000 or more in 2007, developers built 12,661 units when only 6,105 units were actually believed to be needed.

For folks making between $0 and $71,700 annually, 1,628 units were built by developers in 2007 all the while the city needed 8,005 units built.

The illustration presented seems to demonstrate the developers do not really wish to build projects where their profit may be much lower than they wish for.

As expected and as proven during the presentation, the folks from downtown L.A. want the support from San Pedrans and are willing to offer them nothing in return for their support.

I truly believe they didn't realize that OUR community is currently dealing with a wide range of issues regarding the largest proposed residential project since Playa Vista.

If you want more information about the Mayor's housing plans, you can find them by visiting: http://www.mayor.lacity.org/ and scrolling done to the "Housing That Works" icon.

It is not recommended that you go and try to talk with anyone in the Mayor's office about single-family, detached houses on lots of not less than 5,000 square feet in any new development or future project. They don't want to hear any of that and you would be wasting your energy attempting to communicate with them.

It's all about inclusionary and workforce housing for the next five years with a five Billion Dollar package backing up their intentions.