Letters to the Editor: Landlords sparked L.A.’s overcrowding crisis. They got an assist from leaders of the housing industry
Landlords triggered L.A.’s overcrowding crisis. They got an assist from leaders of the housing industry
In his column in the Feb. 18 News Journal, “The Housing Crisis in America, Now and Then,” the late Jerry Brown wrote that for much of the last century, cities were more congested than towns, but that during the 1970s and 1980s, the two were neck-and-neck. He cited studies showing that during the past 30 years, the population of Los Angeles has doubled and quadrupled, and that it has been going up each year at an ever-increasing rate.
He said it was “just” that “a bit of a stretch” to say that Los Angeles was being over-populated.
L.A.’s population was never as high as it is today, nor does it ever need to be, but it was ever-growing. It doubled in the 1950s. This growth was due to immigration, of course. And what was the cause of this immigration?
It was a major change in the way Americans built houses. In the 1950s, land was much cheaper than it is today.
And so, one can see the change between then and now.
The problem with America’s population is that no one has said it is a problem. People have said it is not a problem.
We hear no complaints in newspapers. No one is saying that we should build more stores, more restaurants, more office buildings. Or that other cities should build more apartments.
Los Angeles has lost its ability to control its space. It has lost the ability to build and grow homes that can accommodate so many people.
And now, like one of the houses in my neighborhood, I don’t know what the problem is.
My house is my house. It is my child’s house. My children have their own houses already and they are full of friends and they have many bedrooms.
They are busy getting ready to go out in the morning to get their jobs done.
But there is enough room in my house for all of them. I do not want to make more.
I don’t need to make more or larger houses. There is enough room. It is enough and it doesn’t fill me up. That is