Housing in LA city is a mess

There is no other way to say it. We have years of not building enough housing, hold-over zoning for single family homes, increased traffic as we densify, a rail system in its infancy a crowded bus system and AirBNB. What could possibly go wrong?
 
I’m not sure why city officials didn’t see this coming although I’m sure they had other more pressing problems (?). I’m also not seeing a larger vision on how to make “it” better. But the issue is much bigger than repealing Costa-Hawkins* and trying to get SB827 ** through the state legislature.
 
Bottom line the city of LA’s population is growing. Because we have NOT been building enough housing AND more homeowners are staying put AND we have a strong demand for housing – both renting and owning – we are in a bit of a pickle to put it mildly.
 
A master plan is surely the best solution with all parties at the table including homeowners, renters, developers, planning officials, traffic experts, etc. In the end EVERYONE will have to compromise on some deeply held belief.
 
Building in the outskirts doesn’t work anymore when all the jobs are on the westside, central and downtown LA. That creates more traffic coming into and out of the city, which creates all that Waze traffic through your neighborhoods. Ugh! I get it.
 
Bottom line, LA City is changing and the growing pains are killing us as they show up in the form of high housing prices. We have a strong economy. You can’t put that genie back in the bottle; people are coming here and the numbers of households are increasing. Adding more density and housing are the only solutions. The next question of course, is the “how”.  Stay tuned!
 
*https://la.curbed.com/2018/1/12/16883276/rent-control-california-costa-hawkins-explained
**https://la.curbed.com/2018/4/10/17178288/california-senate-bill-827-transit-zoning-los-angeles
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