Rick Caruso's Ties To The Homelessness Crisis
Where the Americana at Brand stands now, other functioning businesses once stood. Unlike the stores catering to the rich that occupy Rick Caruso’s development, many of the businesses that once existed in the area were family-owned. The City of Glendale labeled the entire area as “blighted,” condemned the properties, and took possession using eminent domain. It was “then handed…over for no charge to Caruso.”
Even after the complex opened, Caruso’s cronies at Glendale City Hall were not finished looting the neighborhood. Two additional properties were threatened with foreclosure under eminent domain if they did not negotiate a sale with Caruso. Knowing that they could not fight city hall, the owners sold. “A landscaped, tidy” mid-priced hotel was replaced with a Nordstrom department store that was moved from the Glendale Galeria across the street.
To be fair, the Americana did bring additional housing to Glendale. The project includes 238 apartments with rents that ranged from $2,060 to $5,500 a month at the opening. Today, a studio apartment will set you back $3,450 per month. It costs $6,450 per month to rent a two-bedroom townhome on the property. A two-bedroom condo at the Americana is currently listed at $1,950,000. There are 99 other condo units in the complex.
Remarkably, Caruso recognizes that this type of government-assisted gentrification is exacerbating the homeless crisis stating that “economic hardship is the #1 cause cited for newly homeless”. He blames this on a system that “incentivizes the building high-cost luxury housing over affordable housing”, further claiming that “only luxury housing is economically feasible to build”. His “obvious” solution? “Build more housing, of all types, in all neighborhoods.”
It would seem as a developer, Caruso had the opportunity to lead by example. How much affordable housing has Caruso built as a developer?
I put this question to Alex with the Rick Caruso Campaign. The response reiterated why it’s difficult to build this type of housing, but did not provide any examples of where Caruso overcame these obstacles:
Given that many are probably supporting his candidacy, it is interesting that the campaign cited NIMBYs as part of the problem. However, the response really did not answer my question, so I tried again: “Is there anything that he did as a developer to address the problem?” No additional response was received.
A study in 2019 found that an estimated 600,000 LA County residents spend 90 percent of their income on rent. This puts them in a precarious situation where one prolonged illness or other family emergencies could leave them out on the streets. While our politicians would have you believe that those on the streets are primarily drug addicts or have severe mental health issues, nearly 47 percent were found to have worked within four years of becoming homeless. Nineteen percent worked in the calendar quarter they became homeless. Sixteen percent are in family units. If there is any doubt that the problem is growing, 37,000 homeless residents were without shelter for the first time.
Caruso’s campaign promises to fix the homeless problem seem like the case of an arsonist who wants credit for the fire that he started. As a developer, Caruso had the ability to build desperately needed housing but made the decision that this was not profitable enough. The results of that greed can be seen on our streets.
Instead of building affordable housing, “Rick Caruso has spent more than $62 million” on his mayoral bid, “nearly all of it his own money.” He also donated almost $1 million to Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, John Kasich, and other anti-abortion politicians. If Caruso is truly serious about solving the homeless problems, it seems like there were better ways than his vanity-stroking run for mayor.
Photo by Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash
Facts About the 2022 Homeless Population in Los Angeles County:
Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for students with special education needs and public education. He was elected to the Northridge East Neighborhood Council and is the Education Chair. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him “a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.