To the editor: Contributing writer Joel Kotkin’s op-ed is clear and informative until the last paragraph (“Don’t blame the boomers for millennials’ struggles,” Feb. 26). Instead of a conclusion based upon his preceding ideas, he introduces unsubstantiated notions that belie another agenda. He suddenly cites regulations that need to be scaled back as the reason housing affordability has decreased.
As a recently retired architect, I found that the construction of new and remodeled housing became problematic during the COVID pandemic. Many construction workers either changed jobs or fled the state, causing the cost of construction to skyrocket. The disruptions of supply chains also led the cost of construction materials to dramatically increase. What had been $100 per square foot pre-pandemic was suddenly $300 per square foot.
While obtaining permits certainly became more annoying with shuttered government offices using previously untried “paperless” permit submittals, the actual cost of that was not the dramatic expense always noted by conservatives. The regulations many of them hated supported environmental protections, workplace safety and occupant safety. Meanwhile, the market manipulations of hedge funds buying up residential real estate is ignored as a problem.
Lastly, that manipulation of the housing supply is exacerbated by the massive transfer of wealth to the top 10% from the 90% — the rest of us — that has occurred over the last 40 years. When corporate mismanagement of the economy is ignored as the major influence on housing prices, the whole op-ed falls apart.
David Gene Echt, Torrance
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To the editor: Kotkin’s piece fails to confront the reality of the destruction his generation has caused its children and grandchildren.
Union membership was at 25% in 1972. Thanks to the corporate and anti-union politicians that the boomers have elected over the last few decades (see: President Reagan), it is now 10%. Due to these same boomer voters electing politicians to gut and defund our university systems, the average student’s debt has increased 951% since the ‘70s.
My boomer parents’ four-bedroom house has a mortgage of $367 per month. My rented one-bedroom apartment is four times that monthly.
My father bought their house on a yearly salary of $27,000. I make more than three times that today.
But Kotkin’s advice? Millennials must work harder. Change careers, move to a small rural town, go to a trade school. All because Kotkin doesn’t want to pay more taxes for the lavish luxuries of public transportation and child care.
Andrew Carillo, Denver
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To the editor: I agree with everything that Kotkin wrote about the disparities in wealth distribution by generation. A greater proportion of younger people moving toward skilled trade is a favorable trend. But the stubbornly high housing prices of metropolitan coastal cities remain a huge problem.
Nevertheless, there is reason to be hopeful for the young: Boomers will be dying in large numbers over the next 20 years, and guess who will be inheriting all those assets?
Mike Sovich, Glendale
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To the editor: Articles on this subject all omit one very important fact: Generally speaking, millennials are the children of boomers. Not all boomers are rich, able to boost their children into their ideal lifestyle, and those who are tend to be more frugal, instilling their values into their children. They didn’t instill an expectation of prosperity, but rather emphasized the importance of improvement through education, training and work, something they inherited from their parents (those who grew up during the Great Depression and fought in World War II) in turn.
Martin Usher, Thousand Oaks