If L.A. Sucks Why is housing expensive (loan, house)

[shannon94]

Originally Posted by SandyCo

I was wandering through the Internet, trying to find a statistic for how many renters there are in Los Angeles vs. homeowners. 61% renters is what I found.

I also found, in a separate report from 2004, a blurb that says housing construction continued to lag behind housing demand. This demand was the direct result of population growth. There were 350,000 housing permits issued from 2000 to 2004, but the population increased by 1.6 million in the same time period! I'm not sure if this was for the entire Southern California region (L.A., Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange, Ventura, San Diego, and Imperial counties).

So there you have it. Population growth. Generated by... jobs? The lure of the weather? Conditions in another country?

Population growth???.....Immigration and births. More people are currently leaving California than moving in....simple fact.

[deeptrance]

Originally Posted by SandyCo

So there you have it. Population growth. Generated by... jobs? The lure of the weather? Conditions in another country?

All the above. Mostly POSSIBILITIES and DREAMS. That's part of what makes LA great to those who move there from other countries. They work their butts off and create wealth. It's been happening for generations. Sure, there's white flight, but the influx of immigrants isn't going to make LA an impoverished Third World nightmare as some in this thread seem to imply. Quite the contrary, people with the motivation to go through the amazing hassles they go through to get to the USA tend to be the hardest working of all, and they will keep LA a wealthy place and they'll create new businesses and new jobs. And old-timers who don't like hearing foreign languages or seeing graffiti will leave for Utah and Oregon. "Good riddance," I imagine some of the newcomers would say.

[deeptrance]

Originally Posted by shannon94

Population growth???.....Immigration and births. More people are currently leaving California than moving in....simple fact.

You dislike immigrants and babies, apparently, and you imagine them to be the future downfall of a once great land.

Interesting. Wonder how the USA became wealthy in the first place...

[fastfilm]

Shame on you deeptrance for the sweeping, accusatory generalizations from Texas that have naught to do with Los Angeles, 2006. It remains the influx of illegal immigrants right here that overtaxes the systems in place and its legal citizenry (born here or naturalized alike) to afford. It is the communication in foreign languages right here without any concomitant effort at English skills with which to interact with the rest of America (English is still the lingua franca for the U.S., of necessity, for those from those myriad backgrounds) for the rest of their lives. And the most of the "wealth" accrued by the illegals is wired back to foreign countries, never, ever to benefit a soul here.

And lastly, much of our intrinsic "third world" comparisons in Los Angeles stem not so much from the actual slummy environs that many of our formerly middle class areas now resemble amidst the debris and graffiti from those communities of illegals who have zero desire to conform to U.S. laws and manners, but from a socio-economic turn that even those posters who agree to disagree acknowledge together: that Los Angeles is transmogrifying into the third world mega-city model of a few wealthy at the top of the pyramid, and the remainder of the majority being quite poor and comprising a service economy for those few wealthy.

All Los Angeles persons I know that are leaving have been far more hard-working than your illegal day laborers to afford our inflationary costs here. Furthermore, I know so many people who've tried to put their ideals into action by helping solve the problems for everyone as neighborhood activists to get things done. We've made our part of the city better for all, and yet reap none of the benefits and social services given to illegals and hard-core lawbreakers in Los Angeles. While working for a better today for all, we nonetheless are all planning to leave for personal better tomorrows. And you're saying "Good riddance" to us?

Then, were you ever to move to L.A., you just might deserve what you'll find in all sectors except the wealthiest: pure tribalism. People who refuse to work for the common good here because they do not consider themselves to be Americans, and distrust all others not from their home country. People incapable of communicating with the rest of America. People who say "good riddance" to thoughtful, decent, kind neighbors. People who equate pride in one's ancestry with anger and defiance towards all other Americans and the plethora of backgrounds and ancestries. People who've grown up in a generation that doesn't know, let alone acknowledge, that the words "legal" and "illegal" do not mean the same thing. People who insult the efforts of all legal immigrants who preceded them who made our country great by hating that very citizenry for wanting to be and remain, gasp, Americans.

[montevista1]

fastslim: Illegals are a problem everywhere. The government does not want to do anything serious about Illegal Immigration. Fact is both the GOP & DEMS are spineless.

Housing here is not expensive because of them most live in 1 or 2bdr apartments in the barrios. If they get lucky they move into a small house.

Housing here is expensive because they have plenty of people who can afford paying a million dollars for a 2,000sqft house.

[newportbeachsmostwanted]

Originally Posted by montevista1

fastslim: Illegals are a problem everywhere.

huh?

ok, can you bring me some from Nebraska?

Originally Posted by montevista1

Housing here is not expensive because of them most live in 1 or 2bdr apartments in the barrios.

So you are saying, ALL 8 million illegal immigrants are living in one apt!?..lol.

Even if it was each four illegals to each 2 BR apt, that is 2 million 2BR rental occupancies! It is an incredible hit. These guys really do mess up the marketplace.

They don't drive up costs!? That's ridiculous!--I'm sorry.. Not only do they drive up costs, but they drive down wages! That's why it's so darn hard to live here.

[deeptrance]

Originally Posted by fastfilm

Shame on you deeptrance

I feel no shame, but I'm having a good laugh. Interesting that you've got as many points of "positive ratings" as you do posts. Either this forum is full of anti-immigrant right-wingers who persistently congratulate you, or there is a bug in the system.

Your post is hyperbole exemplified in the most grand of fashion. I congratulate you on this accomplishment and shall add the one last needed point (at the time of this posting) to make your positives equal your posts. Why not? It's about as fair as voting in Ohio or Florida.

(why am I addicted to making myself a target? I should get a tattoo of a bullseye on my back and walk around shirtless.... )

[marilyn220]

Originally Posted by fastfilm

Then, were you ever to move to L.A., you just might deserve what you'll find in all sectors except the wealthiest: pure tribalism. People who refuse to work for the common good here because they do not consider themselves to be Americans, and distrust all others not from their home country. People incapable of communicating with the rest of America. People who say "good riddance" to thoughtful, decent, kind neighbors. People who equate pride in one's ancestry with anger and defiance towards all other Americans and the plethora of backgrounds and ancestries. People who've grown up in a generation that doesn't know, let alone acknowledge, that the words "legal" and "illegal" do not mean the same thing. People who insult the efforts of all legal immigrants who preceded them who made our country great by hating that very citizenry for wanting to be and remain, gasp, Americans.

Fastfilm, my parents are from the West Indies, but my siblings and I were born here. THANK GOD my parents wanted to "assimilate" and we grew up in a predominantly black, Puerto Rican and white neighborhood. They could have easily lived in Brooklyn with all the other carribbeans, but chose not to. We do not know how to speak patois (ghetto french), because my parents said it wasn't a real language and wouldn't do us any good anyway.

To this day, I don't know too much about my parents birth country, except when family comes around to visit. Other than that, neither me or the rest of my siblings care. We identify we black america and the struggles they went thru. If it wasn't for THEM my family wouldn't be here right now. I rarely mention my background unless someone INSISTS on asking what I am. I don't look like the typical black american, but it still bothers me when the simple "I'm black" doesn't seem to be enough.

But immigrants today from ALL countries are different from when I was growing up. We wanted to assimilate back then, the ones today want to continue to rep their countries and be American when convenient. I personally believe if you're not down with your adopted country or the country of your birth then you should go back to where you came from. But that's another thread.

[fastfilm]

marilyn, what's sort of sad is that actual diversity is going away in the influx of the illegals. When I first moved to my S.F. Valley neighborhood 13 years ago, I so enjoyed talking to all the neighbors about where they were from initially, their experiences, my experiences, and all the things we all seemed to have in common. There was a clothing designer from Brazil, people from Africa, Korea, France, and a really nice young single mother from Jamaica that I was having such fun talking to, as she had been educated in England and liked a lot of the same cultural items I did, like reggae and certain British movies. But all of the above, homeowners and renters alike moved away as the area became Hispanic with our little houses full of, say 14 people usually indicating illegals, the Jamaican mother voicing my concern that there was no one with whom to converse in English except the children of illegals and Hispanics. No one but the kids had any grasp of English, and one so misses mature discussions in one's own neighborhood.

montevista, I sure like your version of my name better! But L.A. is now the main "port of entry" for illegal immigrants.

deeptrance, please reassure us you're not one of those who can't tell the difference between "illegal" and "legal" immigrants.

[marilyn220]

Originally Posted by fastfilm

deeptrance, please reassure us you're not one of those who can't tell the difference between "illegal" and "legal" immigrants.

I'm with Deeptrance on this one. I can't tell the difference either. Even if they showed me documents PROVING it to me, I still wouldn't believe it. I know that may sound a bit racist, but for the right amount of money anyone can get fake documents made up.

I've met way too many people from different parts of the world who don't have their "documents" (not just latinos). They overstay their visa and then get "lost" in the country. If you can't speak english to me, then I don't care what country you came from, I'm going to ASSUME you're illegal until it can be proved otherwise.