Alyssa Erdley, Observer Staff Writer
According to the 2020 Census, there was a net loss of 500,000 people from California over the last decade. Half a million people left the state, half of them apparently from the Los Angeles area.
California is losing population and just lost a seat in Congress. Yet for 2021 to 2029, Housing and Community Development decided that Southern California had to plan for an additional 1.34 million more housing units.
The Southern California Association of Governments came up with more magic numbers, assigning each allotment of this 1.34 million to the various area cities.
Santa Monica was told to zone for an additional 9,118 units. This was later decreased to a mere 8,895 units. Over two thirds of these units are supposed to be "affordable."
Despite the loss, during the previous housing cycle, SCAG was told to allocate up to 438,030 additional housing units.
And the population bleed is centered in Southern California - in Los Angeles county, specifically. According to a 2019 report by Claremont McKenna College's Rose Institute of State and Local Government, as reported by the Sacramento Bee, four districts in downtown and East Los Angeles "appear to be most at risk of becoming the district California loses in 2021."
Why must we build almost 9,000 more housing units in Santa Monica? Why were we even told to do so? Why were we asked to trust the HCD, SCAG or any other state agency regarding the housing situation nine years in the future?
It is always a bad idea to follow top-down governmental directives. It is always a bad idea to listen to paid experts and consultants, all of whom are corrupted by the hand that pays them. And there are precious few, if any, uncorrupted experts or politically unhindered government officials.
The state has been utterly embarrassed. An estimated 1.3 million residents left in domestic migration. Officials have rendered the most physically beautiful state, and the one with the best weather in the contintental United States undesirable.
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