CALIFORNIA FOCUS
1720 OAK STREET, SANTA MONICA,
CALIFORNIA 90405
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 2021, OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“WHEN WILL CITY, COUNTY LEADERS BECOME HOUSING
REALISTS?”
Around California, bureaucrats on a large scale have not yet
begun to recognize that the solution to the state’s housing crisis has been at
hand from the moment the coronavirus pandemic struck.
All it should take is for some of them to venture outside
their ivory tower homes and offices to read the vacancy signs on countless office
buildings where billions of square feet once occupied by cubicles and
conference tables now sit derelict as many lessees reduce their rent payments
while awaiting the end of their leases.
In San Francisco, one-fifth of all office space now is vacant.
That number will climb as white collar workers continue operating from homes
enabled by computerized virtual “commutes.”
The obvious use for the languishing square footage is
housing. All it takes is knocking down some drywall, altering electricity and
plumbing a bit and voila! California can have hundreds of thousands of new housing
units in many sizes and price ranges without disrupting neighborhoods in ways
that could prove ruinous to the investment of life savings by millions of homeowners
now threatened by legislation that aims to end single family zoning.
This appears inevitable, even while a few companies like
Facebook and Salesforce call on some of their work-at-home employees to spend a
day or two weekly in an office.
Empty
office space means less income for landlords, who then attempt to lower the
payments they make to banks and other mortgage holders. If this happens on a
massive scale, it will create a financial crisis. It will also spell trouble for
cities, counties and school districts dependent on property tax money.
Lower income from commercial real estate translates to lower
property values, which leads to less revenue for local and state governments.
Change will come, if only because – as every survey of the last
year has shown – about two-thirds of employees sent home to work enjoy life more
without long daily commutes eating up hours of their non-office time. Most won’t
be going back to offices fulltime, as recognized by companies like Twitter and many
others that will keep allowing employees to work at home most of the time.
This already translates to lower residential rents in a few
big cities, and somewhat higher home prices in outlying areas. Most employees
staying home have not migrated out of California, but many have moved to what
they consider greener pastures.
And yet, most local politicians are not ready to give up
their traditional viewpoint that the only way out of the housing crisis is to
build, build and build some more. This is partly driven by heavy donations from
developers and building trades unions to local politicians.
Example A might be the seemingly ultra-liberal city of Santa
Monica, an enclave of about 93,000 persons surrounded on three sides by Los
Angeles, with beaches and ocean on the fourth side.
There, city staffers taking note of housing allocations assigned
by the state through the normally toothless Southern California Association of
Governments in March began considering how to create about 9,000 new housing
units by late 2029.
Like all recent housing plans in the city, this one endorses
the build, build, build! motif. Similarly, San Francisco supervisors are now
considering allowing all single-family homeowners to substitute two duplexes
for each existing house.
This completely ignores the rash of “for lease” signs displayed
prominently on office buildings throughout both cities.
The millions of vacant square feet in both cities might by
themselves satisfy most of their state-mandated housing goals. But the staffs never
mention this possibility to either their elected bosses or the voters who put
them in office.
Why not? Is it simple lack of vision, refusal to recognize
the obvious reality staring all of California in the face? Or are they merely
accustomed to doing the bidding of developers?
It’s not like office-to-housing conversions are new: Several
large ones are underway in San Francisco alone, including the former
headquarters of the California State Automobile Assn. on busy Van Ness St.
Which makes the housing problem more solvable now than ever
before, so long as it’s viewed with open eyes and minds.
-30-
Email
Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough:
The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch
It," is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns,
visit www.californiafocus.net.
Yet another spot on from Mr. Elias. Thank you!
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