Building homes near transit will transform life through California

By Monica Rivera, special for Calmatters

This comment was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

Working families in California are repelled further than opportunities – from cities and centers for work with schools, health establishments and amenities. Nowhere is this more obvious than where I live, Los Angeles, the second largest metro zone of the nation and one of the richest regions in the world.

Thousands Angelenos are stuck by expensive, exhausting trips because they cannot afford to live close to their work, burning through More than $ 14,000 a year in transportation – Much of car payments, gas and maintenance. This is no accident. For decades, our cities have systematically prohibited apartments and apartments, preventing workers from living close to jobs and transit systems, their tax fund.

The solution is simple: reform the policies for land use and housing to allow more homes near transit.

I spent my career helping people find homes – not only for the right square frames, but also for homes that allow them to connect the rest of their lives. As a real estate sales manager, I supported agents through over 1000 housing sales and saw the same struggle to play: families who want to live close to their work, care for children or aging parents – and cannot.

In LA County, families, which earn the average income of $ 88,000, cannot afford the heavenly rent, a much less average price for a home approaching up to $ 1 million. They move furthersacrificing time, money and quality of life to keep a roof over their heads.

Meanwhile, taxpayers have spent billions to expand our transit network, adding stations to places such as South Pasadena, Redondo Beach and East Long Beach. However, bureaucracy blocks homes near these stops, which makes almost impossible working families live near the infrastructure they have already paid for.

A bill in the state legislative body, Sb 79It offers strength adjustment: Requirement of cities to allow more housing near transit-to seven stories near the subway and average cuts near less common Metrolink stops. Projects that meet these standards would be rationalized for approvalS

This approach returns the money in people’s pockets. Families who do not rely on cars save thousands a year, which is often the difference between barely passing and investing money to their dreams – a college education for their children, a retirement plan or even a GED or a professional certificate to change their path in their careers.

My nephews are a clear example of what is set. My 19-year-old niece would wake up at 3 o’clock in the morning to go to the bus stop, moving on four buses to get to her class at 7am at Rio Hondo College, often a little sleep. Her younger sister, working for her degree in Cal State Long Beach, balancing part-time work to afford $ 50 to $ 60 each time on RideShares due to the lack of reliable transit near home.

We do not always call this shift, but that is. They were not only priced at homes – they were almost at the price of access to education, work and opportunities.

More homes near transit reduce the risk of displacement. The California office of the legislative analyzer in California has found that Bay Area neighborhoods are adding the most housing experiences half a displacement speed of areas that blocked development.

It is also crucial to climate. Cars and trucks represent 30% of state climate pollutionA figure that remains stubbornly high because so many Californians are forced to drive long distances. Research shows that people living close to reliable transit or in passable neighborhoods, Drive Like those in the car dependent areas, traffic reduction, travel and air pollution.

I am an adult enough to remember when teachers lived near schools and nurses near hospitals. This has not changed because of their preferences – it changed because we banned the homes that they can afford.

We left the perfect enemy of good and working families pay the price. The SB 79 is a step towards justice: it allows people to live near the infrastructure we have already built and ensures that good homes do not die in endless meetings.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.