ARMANDO J. SUAREZ
Glendale
More city parks lead to higher rent
Two of the politically popular programs in Glendale are affordable housing and miniparks. One of the prevailing complaints from some Glendale residents is that rents are too expensive (“Rents rising in the city,” Nov. 28). Could these two politically popular programs and resident complaints of expensive rents be connected?
The answer requires the understanding of basic economics. The answer requires political leaders to look at the long-term effects of their decisions rather than the short-term advantage to their own political careers. The answer requires Glendale residents to be mindful of the pressures put on our political leaders to “do something” about high rents.
The law of supply and demand should be applied to help understand the effects.
Because the affordable housing units are available only for a certain subgroup of renters, this means the supply of apartments for rent to the vast majority of potential renters has gone down. This would then logically mean that rents for all non-subsidized renters is higher than it would be if the new apartment units were open for everyone.
Another program that affects rent in Glendale is open space/park laws. This program is politically very popular. It is like a warm and cuddly bear for kids. Who would be evil enough not to like parks?
However, would renters of Glendale push their politicians to build more parks if they understood that with every park, the supply of apartments for rent is potentially lowered? It might make for a good picture in the paper and votes during election, but with every park there is potentially an apartment complex that is not constructed, which pushes rents in Glendale to trend higher.
Some renters, frustrated at the high cost of rents in Glendale, argue for rent control, but it’s a very misguided argument. Rent control has been tried in New York, Paris and other areas of the world. The prevailing outcome of rent control throughout history and without exception to location has been the degrading of the area.
To understand why rents are high in Glendale, voters of Glendale need look no further than the Planning Department.
Zoning laws, the General Plan, historic preservation, open-space laws and others, while good intended, affect the supply-and-demand curve of housing to sway away from equilibrium.
To understand this effect, I would encourage renters of Glendale to investigate cities where zoning laws are lax to cities where zoning laws are stringent.
I would encourage residents to investigate housing needs in general between Glendale and Houston.
ROBERT BUNIATYAN
Glendale
