Walter Moore for Mayor of Los Angeles
Deconstructing Villaraigosa's $5 Billion Housing Plan
By Walter Moore -- September 29, 2008
You've probably heard the reports, based on the Mayor's two-page press release,
that he has just unveiled an "ambitious" new $5 billion plan to provide
"affordable housing." Having read the glossy 42-page booklet describing the
plan, I'd like to share with you a few thoughts about the proposal:
1. It's The Developers, Stupid.
The purpose of this plan is not to help the poor or middle class. Rather,
the beneficiaries are the out-of-state developers who fund Villaraigosa's
campaign. The plan would use your tax dollars to subsidize their projects, and
would exempt them from the laws that have preserved our city's distinctive
low-rise, low-density architecture for nearly a century.
Nor does the plan even require them to build the "mixed income" housing that
Villaraigosa talks about so much. On the contrary, the plan specifically states
"Developers
could choose the income mix that works best for their project." Hence,
the developers can decide that the best mix for a given project would be
millionaires, multi-millionaires, and billionaires.
Indeed, the plan does not require the developers to build "affordable" housing
at all. Instead, the plan specifically states that Villaraigosa would "[a]llow
developers to provide land or cash in
lieu of developing housing on site." The
plan does not say to whom developers should pay the cash, the
denominations required, and whether to deliver it in a bag or a briefcase.
2. Flip This Foreclosure.
Villaraigosa's plan would create a brand new bureaucracy, the "Office of
Neighborhood Stabilization," that would "acquire, rehabilitate and re-sell
foreclosed properties to first-time homebuyers."
Now, if you've read my essays for a while, you already know how Villaraigosa
"leases" City property -- your property -- to his cronies pursuant to
10-year leases for $1 per year rent. Can you imagine to whom he's going to
"sell" the houses in your neighborhood that go into foreclosure? And at what
price? Hey, he gave over $1 million to "Big Weasel," the convicted machine-gun
runner. What's next? A meth lab where the Smiths used to live?
3. How Low Must We Go?
You don't have to be a licensed real estate broker -- which I am, by the way --
to know that housing prices are plummeting, and foreclosures are way up. Our
city's population, moreover, is at an all-time high. Indeed, the LAPD -- in a
clumsy attempt to make the crime rate look lower than it really is -- puts the
population at over 4.2 million people. It is therefore fair to ask: How low does
Villaraigosa want housing prices to go? How many people does he want crammed
into the 469 square miles our city covers?
It turns out the Mayor believes that you, the middle-class taxpayer, have a duty
to provide housing to anyone, anywhere, who wants to live here. The plan
specifically states, "Mayor Villaraigosa is proposing a citywide mixed-income
housing ordinance to ensure that all families have a place to live in Los
Angeles, regardless of income."
Message to young people: Hey, no need to study in school; no need to work hard;
no need to save; no need to use birth control to ensure you have only as many
children as you can support. In Villaraigosa-land, your friends, the
middle-class taxpayers, will make sure there will be no consequences to you for
any of the bad decisions you make in your life.
4. Good Luck Coming Up With That $5 Billion.
The $5 billion figure comes from multiplying a $1 billion budget by five
years. As for the annual $1 billion, approximately $200 million of that figure
is simply money the City already spends on programs like this. Nothing
new about that.
Villaraigosa's plan depends on receiving another $822 million per year from the
City of Industry, the state government, and the federal government, and from
bonds. The plan does not include any statement from the City of Industry, or any
state or federal officials confirming they will fund the plan.
Villaraigosa says he will get another $700 million -- total, not per year --
from Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. However, a review of that company's
2007 annual report shows they got their money from such lenders as -- you
guessed it -- Washington Mutual, Wachovia, and Fannie Mae.
Another $176 million per year will supposedly come from private capital. That
figure shows you who would get the leverage: developers who put $176 million
into projects would get the benefit of the approximately $840 million in tax
money. Where can the rest of us get a deal like that?
5. Homeless Sardines.
Villaraigosa states, "Every night in Los Angeles, 40,000 people sleep on the
streets, emergency shelters, or in transitional housing shelters." The solution?
Villaraigosa's plan would "create 2,200 units of permanent supportive housing."
Hmmmm. Forty thousand people, 2,200 units; that will work out fine as long as he
crams 18-19 people into each unit.
Bottom Line.
Villaraigosa's plan is merely a pretext to ruin your quality of life in
order to reward the developers and other cronies who contribute to his campaign.
If you want a Mayor who will fight to protect and improve your quality of life,
you need to contribute to my campaign.
Click here to contribute.
