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The Affordable Housing Racket It is difficult to believe that Paris Merriam ("Lay the foundation for affordable housing" Letters, Sept. 17, Orange County Register) is unaware of what a racket "affordable housing" is in California right now. Mission Viejo was built as affordable housing for residents of Orange County in the1960s. It was a planned community. Unfortunately, the plans have been shown to lack several features now known to be important. There was not enough room for commercial development that would cut down on commuter traffic. What little we had has been eroded over the years by city council members supported by developers. The "affordable housing" law firms are also supported by developers. The racket is this. The legislature keeps upping the ante of how much affordable housing each community must provide. Developers are rich and powerful enough to fend off efforts to locate such affordable housing in new communities like Ladera Ranch with its $900,000 homes on postage-stamp lots. Older, built-out communities, like Mission Viejo, have no room to spare, but the remaining commercial zoned parcels are coveted by developers. The law firms sue or threaten to sue, and the city councils cave in. We lose what little commercial space we have. The city loses sales tax revenue and traffic gets worse. Our streets were designed for traffic volumes now greatly exceeded. High-density housing means big profits and more traffic. John Paul Ledesma is the only incumbent council candidate running this year who is trying to defend the city from the rapacious developers and their phony "public interest" law firm allies. I suspect Mr. Merriam knows this. It's no big secret, except from voters. Michael T Kennedy, M.D. |
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