One Way to Loosen this Market Up

What isn't about supply and demand? In the case of a little thing like shelter, people want to own, only there's very little to buy; ergo, it sets you back a few semolians.

There's no drawbridge to pull up either, "Ok, enough folks in Southern California, would the rest of youse please go repopulate a rust belt city?"

What are we to do, torpedo our local economy? Start ugly online rumors about the Golden State? Taunt the tectonic gods? Nah, we need to create more housing inventory, and I'm not one of these go-go development types, willing to put the Mojave desert under blacktop.

But how else to do it? Here's an idea:

Liberalize commercial lending. Sure we've got these mixed-use ordinances, and there is protocol to convert commercial to residential. Only thing is, you've got to qualify for a commercial loan first--easier said than done. Buyers that would qualify for hefty residential purchase loans are oftentimes ineligible for commercial loans altogether. Most commercial deals require a down payment starting at 30% (which given the cost of things now days, means you're walking around with a lot of jack. Which begs the Q: If you've got that kind of jack why bid on a dumpy nail salon?) Did I mention that commercial closing costs are higher as well? Let's just shed the mid-century underwriting model.

In Los Angeles there are commercial corridors that look like backgrounds in "Fort Apache The Bronx", sometimes laced through otherwise resplendent residential neighborhoods. Would I mind, if disused commercial got swallowed up by single hipsters and artist live/work types? Would I mind if important neighborhood services were eclipsed by surging residential demand? What, you mean a little competition for the 99 cent stores, the storefront churches, and the recycling yards? Puh-leeeze!

If that were to happen maybe we'd get true mixed-use impetus, developers would embrace the model, freed from financial disincentives and fities ideology, crusty grass rooters would recognize its balanced, restorative contribution; moreover, the added density might entice better services to underserved areas.

Every new commercial project in Los Angeles should have a residential component.
We can't exhaust increasingly limited infill possibilities with retail-only projects like, for example, Hollywood & Highland. Consider how desirable condos might've been there? With ground floor retail, sitting atop a red line station, in a flourishing entertainment district, with immediate proximity to the 101 freeway? (This isn't to suggest that developers are wholly responsible for the state of things; in part, that which they do is a reaction to systemic impediments, building requirements, and leadership forces.)

Still, it'd be pretty cool to call mom and say, "I have a view, it's of an elephant."