Affordable Housing crisis in California - what is the cause of this?

if someone working for Disney is living in poverty, how in bloody hell are illegals surviving? are the Americans stupidly spending their money?

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Typical Trump tactic... Anyone's who's busting their arse 8 hours a day and still can't manage to be financially comfortable, shouldn't blame the government... They should be blaming anyone who has a darker complexion to themselves.

That'll solve everything.

a reply to: SocratesJohnson

No different culture. They don't mind living 13 deep in a house.we do.

One tax payer, 12 under the table. It's a big reason they drive beemers.

The media has been funny here. Pushing how small homes are great and mfg'd homes are stylish.

Crazy situation.

Not to generalize them all, but I saw a ton of this in Florida. Prob worse in cali.

originally posted by: Mandroid7
a reply to: dfnj2015

It's long past time gov gets to eff out of the market, they have been subverted from their initial purpose of protecting prosperity for citizens into taking all prosperity for control and gibs.

They sold us out.

From factories to income tax, to property tax and regulation(tax), to excess laws and employment disqualification through records

While dipshlitz cry muh party.

Slaughtering small business, now taxing the materials suppliers through tarriffs.

Our country is fd on this path.

Well that's exactly what the corporatists want. The last line of defense gone so they can really sham the public without recourse. Yes, gov should stay out of the market when it's the corporatists writing the laws. Gov should intervene when it's the public that is writing the laws... to serve the public. But we've known that we need to get corporate interest out of politics for a long time.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Not enough people wear hats?

a reply to: okrian

I think the ship has sailed on a gov for the people.

Haging on with bs like safety, just enough to not be eaten.

Corruption is out of control.

Taxes, lobbying, bad regs, bad laws, even the patent system is rigged.

We have a long way to go to maga.

Their answer is tiny homes and gun control.

Housing is expensive in CA because of a combination of factors. ZOning and other regulations drive up the cost of land acquisition. High demand to live in the state and finally easy mortgage financing which inflates prices similar to house easy student loans drive up tuition.

originally posted by: DigginFoTroof
Just heard a PBS report on the people of Anaheim who basically live in poverty while being employed full time by Disney (at Disney Land & other locations) as well as working second jobs. A 30 year employee living in poverty seems impossible to comprehend when they are working for one of the most profitable and "stable" companies in the US - so there has to be another reason for the lower wages as well as high housing prices.

What I see as the problem is largely illegal and even "legal" immigrants ("legal" meaning they got citizenship via anchor babies, chain migration/immigration, and other methods of exploiting the US's family friendly and compassionate laws).

A conservative estimate puts the illegal alien population in 2014 at around 3.1 million! That is 1 in 10 or 10%! Now add in all the "legal" immigrants at roughly

www.migrationpolicy.org...

www.ppic.org...

Foreign born Cali residents

www.ppic.org...

www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org...

This shows that over 27% are foreign born - the number is 10-11 million people (which is more than 27% but I didn't come up with the numbers - they are from first link under foreign Born Cali Residents)
-Second link says the # is 34+%


So why are wages low? Why is housing so much more expensive?
-How much of a drain are the 3.1 million illegals on state resources?
-What would happen to real estate if 10% of population wasn't there - the people who take up affordable housing, gov subsidized housing, social housing projects, etc?
-How do these 3.1million illegals effect the school systems? Are they helping pay for the MASSIVE debt we incur because of them? How? What property taxes are they paying? What state income tax are they paying?
-How are labor rates/wages effected by 3.1 million low skilled workers? Are wages higher because of them?
-How are the other 7-8 million "legal" immigrants effecting low skilled wage rates? How are they effecting enrollment into secondary education? Is secondary education less expensive because they are there? Is it less competitive?


Many of these people are a drain on society and directly effect every single person in that state in either lower wages, higher rent, lower quality education, higher health care costs, etc. The probem is that Cali wants to spread their diseased model, a cancer, to other states and it is doing so by running people out of their state because they can't afford to live there any more, can't take the draconian laws, the totalitarian authority of the local and state governments. Gone are the days when Cali was the "wild west" and people could do as they pleased for the most part, when it was a place where a person could remake themselves and build their dream. Now it seems it is either "adapt and accept OUR form of a socialistic/communistic/totalitarian dream or we will crush you" or try to live under the radar (good luck...) or leave.

I would wish for "the big one" and have Cali slide off under the Pacific and maybe we could all wake up from this never ending nightmare, but unfortunately(or fortunately, depends how you look at it), there are VERY good people there, people fighting for freedom and what is right. If only the Gov could be hit by the big one.

I was a real estate broker in Los Angeles in the 80's. I got to see prices rise every month, not by much, but they did rise. I also got to see prices come down and the reason prices came down was "NO BUYERS".
Today's events is the cause of "SUPPLY AND DEMAND".
I use to sell business opportunities to the Koreans who came from S. Korea. For some reason they all had $500,000.00 to buy a business opportunity from liquor stores to Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The bottom line in the real estate business is "money talks and bs walks". BS in this case is low wages. Money in this case is more likely to be foreign money.

Here in Tokyo, its supply and demand also as it is in every major city. Unbelievable small apts. rent for crazy rent amounts , but you are paying for location.

In California, the real estate taxes are the enemy of the people. Raising the property taxes have only led to politicians getting pay raises and their friends getting empty seat type of jobs at govt. offices.

originally posted by: dfnj2015

originally posted by: DigginFoTroof

originally posted by: dfnj2015
a reply to: infolurker

It's funny how on the low end fancy techniques like "median" and "percentages" are use in the benefits. But when it comes to CEO tax rates all of sudden everyone in power becomes math illiterate.

Could you explain what you mean? I kind of understand what you are saying, but not exactly sure. An example would be great! I think I agree with what you are saying, people dont' analyze CEO pay/spending but will pick over the poor's with a fine tooth comb?

We are spending $770 billion on the US military this year. What difference does anything else make.

Which also funds NASA and various other agencies.

originally posted by: SocratesJohnson
if someone working for Disney is living in poverty, how in bloody hell are illegals surviving? are the Americans stupidly spending their money?

Illegals survive because they live under the table and the system makes it easy for them. Have kids who are citizens and they qualify for all the social benefits. The benefits workers cannot consider an illegal parent's income when figuring support, so they they have no legal support for means testing.

So you can have parents making bank illegally at sometimes 40-hour jobs and kids taking in full welfare benefits as if the parents don't work at all.

Oh and all the under the table income is unreportable and thus untaxed.

I spent 6 months talking to a girl I went to high school with. She's living in her car in Sacramento. She's a meth/crack addict and she doesn't see the need to get cleaned up and going with life. (so, drug addiction is one reason). She is able to live in her car because of the climate. It's not too hot or too cold to make living in one's car unbearable. Finally, because of the weather, she refuses to leave CA. So, there are people there who shouldn't be.

Just some thoughts and observations.

a reply to: ketsuko

What I've seen is that the women don't work.... and they don't marry the father of their kids.... that way the man's income and such is not even looked at. Then, MANY of these men are illegals and they work construction jobs... for cash and for less than US wages. Finally, many of these illegal men also deal drugs on the side from Mexico.... again, all cash. It's not uncommon for an illegal man to be driving a 50-60K truck around here.

Long story short, people are living outside of their means. Happens everywhere. I moved from Toronto to Hamilton because house prices went through the roof. Now i will be moving to Halifax because of the same reason. If house prices go up, you can sell for a bit of a profit, pay off the mortgage and move elsewhere cheaper. I thought this was the normal thing to do. Its capitalism, not migrants.

If you look around the world and every country, you'll see the same problem happening whenever there is a boom.

Aberdeen in Scotland had an oil industry boom in the 1980's. Before that time, everyone could afford to live in the city if they wanted to. There would either be council housing, private rent sector, privately owned homes and apartments. Graduates couples a starting salary of £15K to £25K could always afford to rent an apartment on a quiet street or on a main road for a few years then buy somewhere once they started a family.

Then the oil boom happened. Oil companies were desperate to get oil workers to work on the rigs any way they could. They offered contract salaries of £40K to £50K, with two weeks on, two weeks off. That way they wouldn't need to relocate and stay wherever they came from. It didn't work out that way. Once the workers realized that Aberdeen was better than the parts they came from or just didn't want a long commute, or wanted to visit the nightclubs, they wanted to move into the city, and started buying up every single available property. Rents and property prices shot up. That priced graduates out of the market and the city. There were "green belt" policies that prevented speculative construction of new homes. So now graduates have to commute in from outside the city by car and playgrounds end up being converted into car parks. Property developers only build property if they know it will sell.

Another factor is the Chinese and Indians (east) are coming in droves and buying houses with cash. Bidding wars that end up $100,000 over asking price. Mostly great people so I have no problem with it. If you can't afford it, don't live here. My friends house went up one million dollars in 15 years because of all the techies pouring in. It's great for my business. Skilled tradesman are in high demand and get paid well. Do people have a right to live wherever they want even if they can't afford it?

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

My brother retired from Disneyland,his salary was 150k a year he lives in Long beach,as well as a few of his friend,they have a nice retirement plan as well,some places in Calif are more expensive then others,just like any other state,quit making poor excuses,work at a menial job,receive menial pay