10 Crazy Housing Solutions That Don't Work and a Couple That Do

OP/ED - The famous quote "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" has been attributed to Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and novelist Rita Mae Brown. Whoever said it first, it rings painfully true about housing. Nevertheless, our crazy politicians keep pushing these worn-out notions. 

1. Arresting homeless people does nothing to address the problem. It is the equivalent of using a giant leaf blower to cruelly woosh people from one place to another. People cannot sleep on their feet.
2. Building luxury housing does not address the problem of affordability. This crazy notion that high priced apartments mystically will trickle down to people with low incomes makes no sense.
3. The idea that you must abandon all planning and zoning laws to build more affordable housing is plumb wrong. Massive amounts of commercial properties stand empty and unused, and there are major commercial corridors that could accommodate millions of new units without building a ten-story building between two single family homes.
4. Building high-end apartments in working class neighborhoods will not ease the housing shortage. It will lead to gentrification and mass dislocation.
5. Building luxury buildings on mass transit corridors will not alleviate congestion. In car dependent cities like Los Angeles where only the poor ride the buses, we should put low-income housing on transit routes.
6. Getting rid of all environmental appeals helps get more housing built. If your aim is to give the developers unfathomable riches by letting them build anything anywhere regardless of the impact, then go for it. We don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We can have environmentally friendly buildings and much more housing.
7. State control of all housing policy will stimulate more affordable housing production. Sacramento has been hard at work stripping localities of their authority over planning and zoning for years now with nothing to show for it.
8. Spending billions on expensive temporary hotel rooms that offer no security to people merely kicks the can down the road. The only answer to the lack of housing is permanent housing.
9. Allowing city councils to award zoning exemptions to campaign contributors is a prescription for corruption. Just look at the rogues’ gallery of current and former city council members in jail or awaiting sentencing.
10. The state prohibiting cities from expanding rent control because they supposedly know better than local elected bodies that are closer to their constituents is undemocratic and allows Big Real Estate to rule state government through hefty contributions. 

What will work and is barely tried:

1. Adaptive reuse of older buildings.
2. Expansion of rent control to keep people in their homes.
3. Repeal of the Ellis Act that allows landlords to take affordable apartments off the market.
4. Inclusionary zoning that includes affordable units in luxury buildings.
5. Increased rent vouchers.
6. Use of public lands for low-income housing.
7. Stop tearing down affordable housing to build luxury buildings.
8. More sheltered living spaces for those with disabilities. 

And that is to name just a few. 

Crazy costs a lot of money. Twenty-four billion dollars to be precise in California since 2019. The alternatives cost a lot less and help people a lot more.

(Michael Weinstein is the president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global HIV/AIDS organization, and AHF’s Healthy Housing Foundation.)