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| mary cummins, real estate appraiser, real estate appraisal, los angeles, california, planning, zoning, architectural resources group, katie horak, elysha paluszek, morgan quirk, racist, racism, historical housing land use study |
I just started reading the land use report "City of Los Angeles Historical Housing and Land Use Study" written by Architectural Resources Group, Inc., Katie E. Horak, Elysha Paluszek and Morgan Quirk which was paid for by the Los Angeles City Planning. This "report" is not only racist but it makes clear the authors don't understand real estate and basic economics. Yes, racism exists. Yes, the world, US and LA have a racist past and still deal with racism today. That doesn't mean income and wealth disparities today in LA are caused by and can be fixed by the current actions of Los Angeles City Planning and Zoning Dept. I now see why the city was reluctant to share this ridiculous report linked below. I also see why it took so long for ARG which is controlled by a 100% white leadership corporation to finish and release the report. Even they knew the report written by lower level writers was too extreme. They should have stuck to the facts instead of adding the slanted racist commentary.
This was the alleged goal of the report. "Architectural Resources Group (ARG) was retained by the City of Los Angeles to prepare this Study as part of the update to the 2021-2029 Housing Element of the General Plan (The Plan to House LA)." "The Study aims to provide an understanding of the twentieth century policies that have contributed to Los Angeles’ housing shortage and affordability crisis, as well as those which have contributed to unequal access to housing and economic opportunity. In providing a context for the current housing landscape, the Study will help inform future efforts by the City as it seeks to provide housing for Los Angeles’ diverse and varied population."
It looks like ARG made this report starting around 2022 after George Floyd's 2020 murder during the height of the more extreme BLM, DEI actions. I support BLM, DEI but the initial reaction after Floyd's murder was an extreme pendulum swing. It corrected and now there's a backlash in the opposite direction which is also wrong but expected. This misguided "report" blames current racial income and wealth inequality on the current allegedly "racist" Los Angeles City Planning and Zoning Department. Let me provide some much needed facts.
Whites make more money than blacks, Latinos. People who make more money have more money. People who have more money can afford to buy and own more expensive homes, apartments in more expensive areas. They also have more expensive cars. This is the reason why whites tend to live in more expensive areas and their homes are worth more. It's the income gap, stupid! Low income whites live in the same area as low income blacks, Latinos. AEI research has proven time and time again that the correlation is socioeconomic factors and not race. It's money. No Planning Department can fix the income gap. It's not their jurisdiction. No one today is preventing blacks, Latinos from living in more expensive areas of LA. Economics is preventing them from being able to afford to live in those areas. Fix the income gap!
This report blames LA City Planning and Zoning department for blacks, Latinos not being able to own and live in more expensive homes in more expensive areas today. "This analysis shows that past planning and housing policies have too often prioritized the concerns of the White middle class over the marginalized, denying communities of color access to resources and excluding them from wealth-building opportunities. Exclusionary policies of the past persist today, perpetuating patterns of segregation, displacement, inequity, and exclusion." Today the cause is income inequality which isn't caused by the Planning Dept. Anyone can now buy any house, rent any apartmentn they can afford. This would be like blaming the Department of Motor Vehicles DMV because whites own more expensive cars than blacks, Latinos. The report writers would call the DMV racist.
Reading through this report I see that it's riddled with illogical reasoning. The report says that people who live in nice homes in nice areas are more successful than those who don't and it's not fair to POC. They think if low income POC could just live in those areas, they'd automatically be successful. Wrong. You have to be successful in order to make enough money to afford to live in those areas! It says this is the fault of the Planning Dept. It's economics! It affects all lower income people equally, white, black, green. You need to complain to the labor dept not Planning. This is not a peer reviewed report. It is not published research. It would never be published with all these statistical mistakes and misinterpretations.
The real reason for the Housing Crisis today is lack of a sufficient number of housing units in Los Angeles and most US cities. Another reason is of course all incomes lagging behind home values. Lack of supply drives up demand and prices. The price of homes is up 46% in last five years alone for this reason. The problem is more people living in an area which is predominantly zoned single family. It's also caused by more expensive California building requirements, increased construction costs, more development red tape, higher interest rates and NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard). Higher housing costs also increases land costs which increases building costs.
I know that if the city of Los Angeles would allow light touch density, i.e. allow 1-4 units in SFR zones, the housing issue would be much closer to being solved. There would be more housing units which would cost less. As it is you have two to four families living in SFRs, duplexes in lower income areas illegally against zoning, Building & Safety laws. They cut up the buildings, convert garages, add additions without permits. NIMBYs are the reason we don't have light touch density. If you want to blame someone for blacks, Latinos, lower income people of all races, colors not being able to afford housing, blame NIMBYs and the income gap. It'd make more sense than blaming the LA Planning and Zoning Department. The report of course says the only goal of Zoning Dept was, is to help only white people and segregate black people into poor areas. This is false. There was never a black, Latino...zone. There were some private CC&Rs which restricted where blacks and some others could live in certain neighborhoods pre 1945. Those were made by the property owners and not the Planning Dept. In 1945 in LA the Adams Heights, Sugar Hill case outlawed those restrictions. The 1963 California Rumford Act also outlawed any restrictions. The Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 made it national. People today live in different areas based on finances alone.
I read the intro, beginning, findings, conclusion and will read the rest later. I'm sure these people misconstrued redlining and other issues. Check back for the full report after I read it all. This report was a waste of city funds. It will just incite racism, hatred and division. AI, Google will now pick it up and repeat this bullshit as fact further stoking racism and hatred. No one should ever hire this group if they can't make sure their lower level employees can complete an assignment in a fair, unbiased, unracist manner.
Just looked at the "definition" of "redlining" in the report. "Redlining: a discriminatory practice that puts services (financial services, i.e. loans, or otherwise) out of reach for residents of certain areas based on race or ethnicity. The term “redlining” originated in the 1930s, when a government-sponsored corporation (the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, or HOLC) assessed and categorized neighborhoods occupied by ethnic groups and people of color as “declining” or “hazardous” and therefore viewed them as investment risks; the policy discouraged investment in these neighborhoods, the legacy of which is felt to this day."
This is incorrect besides totally racist. This is what "redling" actually was. HOLC made maps of a few cities in the US in 1935 to determine loan risk so the government could loan the property owners money to improve the areas. They made maps for 239 cities out of 108,000 cities or .2%. Most of those maps never mentioned race. They mentioned % tenants, income of occupants, age of properties, values of properties, condition of properties, value forecasts...all risks factors we still use today. Some maps mentioned race. It varied based on who was doing the survey. Some high risk "red" zones had POC and some were all white occupants. The real correlation was income, condition/value of properties and not color, race. Again, lower income people live in areas that cost less because they are more likely to be older and in fairer condition near freeways, industrial property... Race was removed from the map surveys. It didn't change the risk rating at all. All the other factors are still used today.
Map areas were rated A, B, C, D with D being the riskiest for loan repayment. Some called the D zone the "red zone" because loans cost more because they were riskier because assets were worth less and were depreciating. We still charge people more for riskier loans today. Loans were given to the property owners and not the occupants or residents. Some D zones had more blacks, Latino residents because they were lower income and these areas are cheaper to rent, own. 80% of the D zone property was owned by white people. White people were the ones who got loans with higher interest rates in the "red" zones not POC. They still got loans, more loans than before the program. It was never "black residents = red zone = no loans for black people." The government programs actually brought a lot of money to all of the areas so they could improve their property or buy more property. There were no affordable loans prior to this. You mainly had to pay cash. Many old red zones are extremely affluent areas today like San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles. Research has proven it did not have a long term negative affect on those areas today. The entire report is riddled with this type of misinformation and lack of understanding. It's like the authors asked AI for summary of redlining but asked AI to make sure it was racist.
FTR I'm a Latina born and raised in Los Angeles and speak Spanish, English. I see racism every day in LA. I've been in real estate over 40 years. I specialize in single and multifamily properties in lower income areas of Los Angeles. I've appraised Section 8, low income housing projects, property in high risk areas. I'm 100% for fair housing and against racism. I know a thing or two about this issue. I'm the first to call out and fight true racism. There is so much real racism that it's ridiculous to waste time, energy and money stoking nonexistent racism against the Planning Dept and City. They should be working on the income gap. Huge waste of city funds to pay for this report.
I just sent an email to the leaders of the Planning Department.
I'm a Latina real estate appraiser, broker in Los Angeles. I've appraised real estate in LA in lower income areas for over 40 years. I've written about LA real estate for decades. I'm also involved in LA politics being nominated to the Prop F Committee by Mayor Garcetti.
I just read most of the LA Historical Housing and Land Use Study. I was upset by this inaccurate report so I wrote an article about it linked below. The authors of the "study" clearly don't understand the basics of economics or income inequality. This should have been peer reviewed before being published. People will now assume this is a true research study because the city paid for and sanctioned it.
The authors don't even understand the full history or implications of "redlining." There has been lots of peer reviewed and published research about the implications and long term effects of redlining. The authors presented a one sided view of the HOLC maps and loan program.
The worst part of this report is that it basically calls the current LA City Zoning and Planning Department racist. The authors believe that the Planning Dept can solve income and wealth inequality when the causes are under the jurisdiction of the labor department. It's as ridiculous as blaming the DMV because most white people can afford to own more expensive cars than most POC, Latinos. It's basic economics. The government needs to work on the income gap. FTR I'm Latina.
Yes, we do have racism and a housing crisis but it's not caused by past redlining. Light touch zoning, easing development red tape, reducing some building overregulation and overruling NIMBYs would make a big difference.
https://mary--cummins.blogspot.com/2024/09/racist-los-angeles-planning-report.html
Mary Cummins of Cummins Real Estate is a certified residential licensed appraiser in Los Angeles, California. Mary Cummins is licensed by the California Bureau of Real Estate appraisers and has over 35 years of experience.
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