Opinion: We can’t solve the housing crisis without addressing immigration
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To the editor: Steve Lopez’s column does not adequately address the main driver for increased rents: The population in Southern California has been growing faster than the supply of housing. (“As renters struggle to pay the bills, landlords and speculators cash in,” Nov. 4)
To alleviate the imbalance, we need to build a lot more housing, slow population growth or both. Increasing rental supply by allowing greater density understandably has met a lot of resistance because people, especially in suburbia, don’t want increased crowding and traffic.
People moving into California from other states and people leaving for other states is mostly in balance, so that’s not increasing population here. The population increase is largely fueled by immigration and the high birth rates of recent arrivals.
It seems imperative that we address immigration if we truly want to solve the issue of rapidly increasing rents.
Don Smith, Torrance
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