Feeling more crowded? Census concurs!

By Laura Emdee | October 8, 2021

Think there are more houses? Not so fast, especially around AES Power Plant site & the Riviera Village

Thank you to District 5 resident, Dr. Grace Peng, for your insight.

October 5, 2021

Honorable Bill Brand Mayor, Redondo Beach 415 Diamond Street Redondo Beach, CA 90277

Re: Housing Element

Dear Mayor Brand, City Council Members and Planning Staff,

I have a couple of more comments on the City’s 6th Cycle 2021-2029 Draft Housing Element. I analyzed the 2020 Census Data and compared it to the 2010 Census Data using an Interactive Map produced by Darrell Owens and Census.gov data.

Coastal South Redondo is losing both homes and people, particularly the Harbor Area.

 

I want to point out that we are losing homes and people in the Harbor area, and we can gain people while losing homes in the Riviera Village area. Or we can add people without adding homes, like in the area near BCHD.

RHNA requires us to provide ~8% more homes in 8 years. We are out of practice, having only added ~1% in the last 10 years. We graduate over 700 students each year from RUHS and we produce only ~35 homes per year.

What we did in the recent past won’t meet the needs of our children or RHNA. We are adding people mainly because adult children live with their parents for lack of affordable alternatives.

Our entire region is experiencing this as working age people can’t afford the rent, or can’t find anywhere to live close to work. They stay with family even if that means long commutes requiring cars. This generates horrible traffic and parking problems.

Meanwhile, our essential workers can’t find any place to live in the communities that they serve. We have to stop this insanity.

 

We can start by

  • Build workforce housing at all income levels in the neighborhoods where the jobs are located so people can walk to work, particularly low-income workers who work split shifts.
  • Build safe & supportive cycling infrastructure so that people can commute safely by bike even after dark.
  • Work with Metro and local transit agencies to provide more frequent buses.
  • Build transit-oriented housing near the train stations and high frequency bus corridors.

Grace Peng, PhD

Posted in Housing Crisis, Latest News