Seeking relief amid soaring housing costs

Professor Peter Dreier’s article “Builders Clucking Like Chicken Little,” Opinion, July 3) was scholarly neither in tone nor substance. When there are more buyers than sellers, housing prices rise. The logical cure for housing’s high prices is to increase the number of units available. Inclusionary zoning schemes cannot create enough affordable units to exert a downward pressure on the market price of housing. Therefore, at best, inclusionary housing will provide a “lotto win” for a few lucky, connected or especially desirable individuals who receive the benefit of those subsidized housing units.

And make no mistake, such units are subsidized by the tenants, purchasers and developers of new housing projects. Dreier complains that no facts exist to support the conclusion that inclusionary zoning is a “tax on the middle class,” but simple math and a basic knowledge of markets make it clear that inclusionary housing is a subsidy in which some people pay and some people gain.

Paul M. Rohrer

Los Angeles

*

The high cost of workforce housing is one of our region’s greatest economic impediments. Solving this housing need is one of the L.A. Area Chamber’s highest priorities. Instead of attacking the business community, housing advocates like Dreier should be proactively working with us, the development community and the construction industry on this critical issue. He will find that the development community wants to build homes for all income levels and has led the way with creative approaches, such as adaptive reuse, to make the California dream a reality.

Additional strides can be made in making improvements to local zoning rules and permitting processes. We can make affordable housing a win-win situation for all Southern Californians.

Christopher C. Martin

Chairman, Los Angeles Area

Chamber of Commerce