To live and buy in L.A.

Taylor Stephens, 25, and boyfriend Nicholas Barger, 23, live in a cozy Hollywood apartment that rents for $1,500 a month. The couple spends about 50% of their monthly income on rent.

Stephens said that although she will graduate from Cal State Northridge without student debts, her salary as an educator won’t be sufficient for her to buy a home for at least 10 years.

“It feels way out of reach to have a home in any of Los Angeles’ hot spots, where I would prefer to buy,” said Stephens, a master’s student and teaching assistant at a Lawndale school. “I’d rather move to another city [outside of Southern California] that’s more affordable and have a home than move far out of town here.”

Gen-Y buyers who can afford a mortgage typically buy for investment purposes, said Tom Kunz, president and chief executive of Century 21.

The bulk of them purchase condos and prefer living close to their jobs, usually in urban areas. Their parents often provide part or all of their down payments, agents say.

Hard as it is for higher-earning young adults to buy a Southland home, low-income residents face far greater challenges.

Workers with poor credit who live paycheck to paycheck are struggling to find rental housing that does not eat up more than 50% of their incomes. However, experts claim that the number of multiple families living in a single unit is fewer than half a decade ago. According to U.S. census data, more than 60% of Los Angeles residents are renters.

Despite the significant inroads by Southern California builders dedicated to constructing and rehabilitating affordable housing, cities still struggle to keep up with the demand because of the loss of federally subsidized housing units.

“You must be very mission-driven to provide affordable housing, because the Section 8 [federally subsidized] requirements are tough,” said Johnson, of LINC Housing Corp. Most landlords, he added, “don't want the bother.”

There is hope on the horizon.

Mayors and city council members who used to view housing as a no-win situation politically have begun to press for permanent sources of affordable-housing funding, and some have helped streamline the process for high-density urban building.

In Orange County, Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle’s support paved the way for approval of the Platinum Triangle, an 840-acre mixed-use development surrounding Angel Stadium and the Arrowhead Pond, with a potential 9,500 residential units. The first phase is scheduled to open this month.

L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa has proposed a $1-billion bond to provide funds for affordable housing. The mayor also announced in March that the city would spend nearly $51 million this year to increase the supply of affordable housing.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed the $2.85-billion Strategic Growth Plan housing bond, which will provide homeownership and rental opportunities to more than 34,000 Californians.

Among additional measures being considered to help solve Southern California’s housing crisis are further recycling of industrial and commercial sites for residential use; inclusionary zoning, which would require developers to include some below-market units in new developments; more mixed-income development; and protecting the existing supply of rental housing.

Will there still be talk about a housing crisis at the end of this decade?

“I hope not,” Villaraigosa said. “I do know this: The best way to avoid that discussion is to do something about it now.”

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