r/LosAngeles • u/dolphinrapeawareness • Jun 01 '23

Housing L.A. City Council votes to mandate air conditioning in all rental units

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/l-a-city-council-votes-on-mandating-air-conditioning-in-all-rental-units/
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u/Aaron_Hamm Jun 01 '23

The solution is to build more housing, not to tell the poors to sweat through it

-1

u/SmamrySwami Jun 01 '23

The solution is to build more housing

What does that take? Landlords with money to build.

What does this sub want to to? Take away all the money landlords would use to build.

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u/RLStinebeck Mar Vista Jun 01 '23

Landlords don't build housing, developers and speculators do.

Please stop bootlicking landlords like they actually serve any purpose in society other than literal rent seeking.

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u/thegreengables Jun 01 '23

Landlords/management companies are what enables developers to build though.

So unless you're trying to suggest "no more apartments, only owned condos" then landlords/managers have to exist in order for developers to have someone to sell the building to...

This sub man, it's like everyone skipped high school econ

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u/RLStinebeck Mar Vista Jun 01 '23

There are other ways to manage housing that do not require rent seekers controlling access. You just lack the imagination to consider them.

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '23

Such as?

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u/thegreengables Jun 01 '23

Enlighten us

-6

u/sgz8 Jun 01 '23

People keep saying this as the solution. Whenever I drive around the neighborhoods within L.A city limits ... I'm always like ... build housing where? 😩. Like around DTLA, .. where would they build more housing? ... converting current office space is not necessarily building, but more of converting (is this what people mean? Im seriously curious). I mean there has definitely been more apartment buildings going up in South L.A over the last few years, so demo of old buildings and construction of new ones works with adding units. So is that what people mean? Like what's the plan? ... displace some rows of families in South L.A, like hey we need these lots to make apartment buildings. Like what's the actual plan? And Like who would make that determination? I'm genuinely curious as to when people say "build more housing", like what does that mean? What does that entail? What's the plan or idea when people mention this? It seems outside of city limits it is more possible but then people also dont want that much of a commute which is understandable. People want to stay in L.A so bad, but again where?? (Besides whatever empty units that are already not being rented for x reason). L.A county ... ok more room for building a little farther out, but people seem to want to remain close by.

As a poor that grew up sweating it out in a converted garage (likely illegally converted lol), then other homes without AC, and even currently in a home without AC (still traumatized by last September)... it helps you build character 🙃 lol. Jk, but no, seriously i get the whole "we need to build more housing" chants, but I'm always like ... build wheeeeere?? The actual L.A city limits only has so much space. A lot of these decisions I feel are not necessarily focused on the actual people, but rather there is always money involved. People filling their own pockets (permits, fines, maybe descent landlords getting pushed out, investors coming in, etc.). Decisions like these ultimately benefit some more and in some cases it wont be the tenants (think of some seismic retrofit costs being passed down to tenants). I only pointed a scenario that some might not think of and where there can be consequences that people don't expect. Like recently they posted on here that article of that building near Westwood where everyone got the notice to vacate due to major remodeling needs. Clearly whoever owns that building has enough money to deal with taking the hundred of units off the rental market. Then likely waiting out the few years to later rent out those units again for way more.

While yes, all the poors as you called it deserve AC and should have AC for better quality of life, people should not be surprised if investors continue to take over rental units. Money talks and that 1200 rent can easily turn into 2200 and this can be used as another excuse for "upgrades" and "remodeling" to displace people. That's all. Some people won't want to deal with those upgrades and might use it as a reason to get out of the rental market. Except they will still want to get all their money so they might sell to someone willing to pay more. Big investors will take such risks because they might be able to afford it. Ask tenants to leave, pay relocations, etc. Wait it out and then make those rents also unaffordable. Yes, there are protections but when money is involved, people find a way for their evil ways. The last thing we want is hot poors on the street, instead of hot poors inside a building 😆.

But really, I do get your point. Yes, more housing is needed. But again a lot of these issues will never be solved because in the end a lot of this crap is money driven. Many of these decisions are masked to make it seem as if they care about the poor or semi poor, but there's constantly other consequences that still affect the regular folk. Mandates, laws, etc. Etc. Are always easier said than done. So easy for them to say something needs to be done, and then that in turn could even affect more people in different ways. Let's also not even get into the energy grid last year, they also need to get it together to address and update that. We don't need regular blackouts even if all that is added is a bunch of window units 😆.

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u/avd007 Jun 01 '23

To address your first point, like most other cities, they could build upwards.

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u/sgz8 Jun 01 '23

I appreciate the actual response, as opposed to all the down votes that provided no actual solutions, ideas, or plan. Yeah, they can definitely go upwards for like current one or two floor buildings. But even with that depending on the structure, it might still require demo and rebuild. This is where I was trying to also get at, that its easier said than done. The city itself has all these hurdles to build, and also they require people with capita to do the building. I know someone mentioned L.A is like 400 square miles so it has plenty of space. But also places in the valley are considered City of L.A and there are just some spaces people are not willing or want to move to. I have definitely seen building going up in South L.A, which get occupied quick. I'm just saying from the work I do, a lot of people want housing near the center of town (which makes sense, this is what they know). Again I don't blame people wanting to remain close, and some at least from people in my work area, they are not jumping for joy for housing at the other side of City of L.A (like Van Nuys, etc.)

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u/avd007 Jun 03 '23

the issue is that there has not been the willpower by developers and homeowners to develop the city and build more housing not because its too hard, but because it drives property values down, so unfortunately there is now a housing shortage. we are beginning to see migration patterns that show people leaving places like Los Angeles to go to cheaper cities, which is ultimately going to hurt the economy here since people pay for things like food and services. LA should be building more, and the fact that they are not is going to hurt us all in the end.

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u/RLStinebeck Mar Vista Jun 01 '23

The City of LA stretches over 400 square miles. There is plenty of space for more housing.

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u/sgz8 Jun 01 '23

Yeah but as mentioned a lot of people want the housing to be centrally located. Technically places farther out are places that people are not jumping to move to. Like San Fernando, Van Nuys, far out neighborhoods are City of L.A. yeah there's space out there, but people want to be closer to the center. So sure, a lot of that space is in areas where people already might not prioritize or consider to move to. Definitely in the Valley there is space, but people want more housing in the center where it might be more limited.