I stayed a night in LA a few weeks ago at an AirBNB in a condo in a prime location near Little Tokyo and can't stop thinking that society would be better off if this condo were owned and occupied by a family instead of being basically a for-profit hotel.
I don't know how to stop this de facto rezoning except by imposing huge taxes on housing that is not the owner's primary residence and closing all the loopholes that come along with that. This would free up more properties for people to own as a primary residence, and AirBNB users et al could still rent out rooms in their primary residence.
It doesn't solve actual homelessness, the solution for that seems to be build more housing.
It’s ironic considering that DTLA of all Los Angeles sub markets is the one with virtually no zoning restrictions and has some of the highest numbers of construction cranes in the nation.
But before we all go onto AirBnB rampage, have you looked at any available properties in that zip code? The schools are complete garbage (an elementary school kid was recently stabbed by a homeless drug addict), the crime rate is high, public transport is next to non-existent, and there’s feces of various origins in the plain view on the sidewalk.
Downtown LA officials have been trying to revitalize the neighborhood by expanding the convention center, permitting more hotel rooms, making business rent cheap and attracting more visitors like yourself, not pitching the neighborhood that’s adjacent to Skid Row to a suburban nuclear family with 2.2 kids.
I don’t know about the schools there, but imagine if families instead of rentals occupied the condos—I bet the schools would shape up real fast. I admittedly haven’t researched/thought about how to fix schools, but getting parents raging seems obvious to start.
School financing flows through property taxes, and they’re the same whether the property is occupied by a family, childless couple, an absentee out-of-town owner or an investor.
Schools currently enjoy 100% of the money with nowhere near 100% of load, which in theory should result in smaller classes and excellent teacher-to-student ratios.
In reality though LA Unified School District has been cutting so many sweet pension deals to the previous employees (and current retirees) that most of that money is appropriated by pension funds long before the current employees (or kids) see any of it.
Combined with decreased enrollment across the board (people intent on having kids and large families tend to move out of LA more than they move into LA) and increased life expectancy of most retirees, things are not exactly looking bright for parents considering LA Unified for their education needs.
Just read an article about it from June, what a tough problem! No amount of complaining from parents can make enough pension money appear. Thanks for writing about it.
I don't know how to stop this de facto rezoning except by imposing huge taxes on housing that is not the owner's primary residence and closing all the loopholes that come along with that. This would free up more properties for people to own as a primary residence, and AirBNB users et al could still rent out rooms in their primary residence.
It doesn't solve actual homelessness, the solution for that seems to be build more housing.