[angst_ridden]

And yet we also have a massive under-occupancy in some areas of LA cough Venice Beach cough Mar Vista cough where a lot of homes are owned by corporations for occasional use by traveling employees, people in other countries parking finances here, or people who AirBnB them for 180 days/year.

In one block where I was working in Mar Vista, four older homes have been knocked down to build McMansions in the past year. All four are owned by LLCs, and all four are vacant.

As for homelessness, we could solve a significant chunk of the problem by having decent healthcare/insurance available to people. I know two people - who had insurance - who ended up losing their houses due to healthcare expenses.

Of course, the above personal experience should be tagged as "anecdotal" not "evidential."

[jimrandomh]

The vacancy-rate statistics do not back this up. Compare the residential vacancy rates for California vs the US as a whole: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CARVAC and https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/USRVAC . Every city has some vacant properties, due to turnover and renovations and other factors.

[handmodel]

I wish they weren't zoning more single family homes but the true vacancy is not a few empty houses but the fact that the houses are not apartment complexes.

The vertical space is the true vacancy. When people say the LA vacancy rate is higher than the homeless rate this implies A) apartments empty because they are switching leases or getting renovated are usable (they aren't) and B) also implies that everyone who wants their own housing has it (not true - plenty of young people are living at home and plenty of people are crammed into apartments with strangers they don't want to be).

Until you build enough housing for everyone who wants a house there isn't enough housing.

[jeffbee]

There is not widespread vacancy. Aggregate vacancy rates are at all-time lows statewide. There may be small jurisdictions with exceptional vacancy rates but if you are going to claim them please bring some hard evidence so we can evaluate the claims.

In my city NIMBYs are always making shit up about vacant buildings but it never turns out to be objectively true. One of their favorite targets that they always point to as "vacant luxury towers" is in reality 97% occupied. So, please don't throw out vacancy trutherism unless you are prepared to back it up.

[angst_ridden]

Like I said, this is anecdotal. I'm anything but a NIMBY, though. I want them to build homeless shelters in my neighborhood. We desperately need affordable housing.