City cracks down on converted garages

As homelessness and foreclosures reached record highs under Bush, America thirsts for affordable housing. This is especially true in expensive areas like Cincinnati or southern California.

But officials in Compton, California (in the state's high-cost southern region) don't see affordable housing as a high priority. (I've blackballed the L.A. Times here because of its GOP bias during the presidential campaign, but I'm lifting that restriction for this entry.)

So the city is clamping down on garages that have been converted into living space. Officials call it "blight."

People who lose their homes as a result of this crackdown are not being provided with replacement living space.

In other words, instead of doing anything about high housing costs, officials are going after those who are forced to live in converted garages because of these exorbitant costs. Only in BushWorld.

The $64 gabillion question here is...WHY??? Why is the city going after converted garages? A lot of things might be considered "blight", but that doesn't mean cities don't let them remain standing. A lot of homeowners converted their garages if they had a child, and officials never batted an eye at them. The city only cares if the garage is being used as an apartment for a poor family.

It's classism. That's what this is about.

Officials want a gentrified city so badly that they don't even care how it affects residents. Kind of like what happens in my area a lot. Of course, in my area, officials would do something like this precisely because it affects residents.

For the record, what Compton is doing is illegal. Cities have to be welcome to all economic groups. The city has to either build affordable housing or stop its war against converted garages.

(Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-compton-garages6-2009may06,0,7137858.story)