Census shows only 38.6 percent own homes, majority rent
November 29, 2001
Associated Press Newswires
LOS ANGELES (AP) - While home ownership rises nationwide fueled by lower interest rates, less than half of the residents who live here own homes, according to census figures.
Only 38.6 percent of residents own their homes, with 61.4 percent renting, census data showed. Only New York City has more renters at 69.8 percent.
In Los Angeles, housing costs consume a larger proportion of income than in New York. More than 90 percent of low-income families spend more than 30 percent of their incomes on rent, according to the analysis.
"People are less secure economically and personally if they are renting," Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University . "They have no control over a variety of different aspects of their quality of life."
Los Angeles has bucked the nationwide trend that shows home ownership rose to 66 percent last year.
Yet in some of the nation's largest cities, a large percentage of people still rent. In Chicago, 56.2 percent of the city's units are rentals. In Houston, that number is 54.2 percent, and rentals comprise about 45 percent of housing in Detroit.
Studies have shown that homeowners create a stable community by voting regularly and getting involved in schools and churches.
"When you look at the long-term prospects, people who own homes are more likely to able to accumulate wealth and pass it on to future generations," added Gary Blasi, a University of California, Los Angeles law professor who has studied housing in Los Angeles.
Of Southern California residents polled in the census, 55 percent said they are pessimistic that the next generation will ever be able to buy a home. About 80 percent said it was difficult for middle-class families to find affordable housing in their areas.
In Los Angeles, experts say, the low rate of home ownership is rooted in a mix of factors including the high cost of land, a huge gap between wages and housing costs, and ineffective housing policies.
In other parts of Southern California, the rates of home ownership more closely parallel the national level. In Orange County, the rate is 62.3 percent and in Ventura County it's 66.2 percent.
According to the report, the percentage of households able to buy a median-priced home last year was 36 percent in Los Angeles County, 28 percent in Orange County, 47 percent in Riverside and San Bernardino counties and 33 percent in Ventura County.
The census report recommends penalizing cities that do not build a specified amount of housing , increasing funding for affordable housing , and supporting developments that mix housing with shops and offices.