L.A. Mayor Garcetti Blames House Prices for Exodus, Ignores Crime and Mandates

L.A. Mayor Garcetti Blames House Prices for Exodus, Ignores Crime and Mandates

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti blamed high housing costs for losing 160,000 residents during 12 months through July 1.

Garcetti never mentioned crime, COVID mandates, cost of living, homelessness, etc:

LA County lost 160,000 residents during the 12 months through July 1, the biggest population drop of any U.S. county, according to a U.S. Census report released last week. That accounted for almost two-thirds of the declines in California, the most populous state.

“You don’t have to be indigent, you don’t have to be homeless to feel that it costs a lot,” Garcetti said during an interview Friday at LA’s city hall. “If you ask me the question, what are the top three issues facing Los Angeles or California, I’d say in this order: housing, housing and housing.”

U.S. coastal cities saw the biggest decreases in residents during the pandemic. Aside from the cost of living, factors contributing to the urban exodus ranged from strict lockdown rules to high taxes and safety fears, including rising crime rates. A lower birth rate, slower foreign immigration and increased deaths also played a role.

LA County has 9.8 million people, making it the most populous county in America. Los Angeles has 4 million residents.

Homelessness has spiked in Los Angeles. It went from 23,000 in 2013 to 41,290 in 2020. It has spread to tourist spots, too.

A single-family home in the county costs around $773,490 in February. The median price is up 84% since Garcetti became mayor.

The Los Angeles Times tried to water down the rise in crime in LA because “violent crime is nowhere near its peak of the 1990s.”

Um, okay. It doesn’t change the fact that crime is up:

Homicides in Los Angeles hit 397 in 2021, the most in more than a decade and a 50% increase from 2019 — but well short of the 1,000 deaths reached during years in the 1990s.

LAPD Chief Michel Moore told the civilian Police Commission on Tuesday that robberies involving firearms were up 57% from 2020 and 60% from 2019 — with hundreds more incidents so far this year than last.

Through the middle of March, property crime was up more than 5% over last year, with car thefts again a major concern. Compared to this point in 2020, vehicle thefts are up nearly 44%.

In February, the Public Policy Institute of California found that “34% of Californians see violence and street crime in their local community as a ‘big problem.'” This is a record number and up 10 points from last year.

The survey also showed that 41% “view crime as a major worry, the highest in any region of the state.”

The Los Angeles Police Department even advised people not to wear expensive jewelry in public: “Over the last year there has been a marked increase of armed robberies involving victims wearing expensive jewelry while in public. If it is visible, it can be a target.”

Los Angeles has been the homeless capital of America since 1984. The city has spent billions to combat the problem, but you would never tell. Angelenos approved a $1.2 billion bond to create 10,000 housing units for the homeless. It’s been hampered by slowness and…rising costs:

Roughly 58 percent of the projects approved by the city are under construction, and nearly a third are in predevelopment stages.

Yet, construction costs are getting more expensive as the years drag on, endangering the lives of more than 40,000 people who remain homeless, the city controller found. The most expensive project, currently in predevelopment, will cost $837,000 per unit to build, while the average per-unit cost has grown from $531,000 in 2020 to $596,846 in 2021.

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