San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)

Anti-landlord laws keep rental market very tight

- Robert Condie Joan Ward

We must build low- and middle-income housing

Re “San Diego could OK far more high-rise homes and backyard apartments under a new city housing proposal” (Jan. 2): San Diego does not have a luxury housing shortage. It has a shortage of affordable housing.

As long as San Diego’s for-profit developer donors are given carte blanche to build, without oversight or proper foresight on what the future holds, the housing shortage will only get worse.

Expanding the transit walkabilit­y index from one-half mile to one mile does not account for terrain, safety or schedules.

Without upgrading vital transporta­tion infrastruc­ture and eliminatin­g the for-profit component, in time we will have a surplus of expensive, empty buildings, for-lease signs at businesses that are unable to get customers to their restaurant­s due to lack of parking, and, sadly, still no viable public transit system.

Fool us once, shame on

There is a solution to the homelessne­ss issue that is being ignored. Many homeowners would happily rent out rooms. I did it for a couple years to an at-risk person.

Unfortunat­ely, it ended badly when he quit paying rent and damaged my property.

Anti-landlord laws caused the eviction to take almost four months and cost me thousands of dollars, none of which was recoverabl­e — all the while with the tenant living in my home without paying rent, and my home and person in danger of his whims.

If government­s would streamline the eviction process, a large percentage of the homeless population

Something isn’t adding up on higher gas rates

Re “SDG&E natural gas bills to double this month, as commodity prices soar” (Jan. 3): SDG&E claims their customers’ natural gas bills will double because the price per therm rose from $1.05 in December to $3.45 on Jan. 1. That is a 229 percent increase.

However, tradeecono­mics.com states the price of U.S. natural gas on Dec. 1 was $6.63 per therm, and then it dropped to $3.99 by Jan. 3.

That is a 40 percent decline, not a 229 percent increase as SDG&E claims.

Re “New SDG&E rate hike is one more punch in the gut. How many more will its customers accept?”

Residents need water rates they can afford

Re “Where’s the ‘down’ button” (Jan. 5): I know SDG&E is a favorite punching bag. I may be in the minority, but I am much more concerned about my water bill.

The actual “water consumptio­n” portion of my bill is no more than 20 percent. There is no way I can cut back anymore. I have all hardscape yards, etc.

Will you please do some cartoons regarding high water rates?

Don’t ask workers to delay getting benefits

Re “What is one way to get America back to work?” (Dec. 30): In response to

There is a lesson to learn from Trump

Re “Letter writers ought not focus on negatives” (Dec. 31): Over the past few years, many folks have written letters to the editor deriding Donald Trump’s horrible and destructiv­e policies, views and rantings. A letter writer asks to what end are these negative

The San Diego Union-tribune letters policy

The Union-tribune encourages community dialogue on public matters. Letters are subject to editing, must be 150 words or less and include a full name, community of residence and a daytime telephone number, although the number will not be published. Please email letters to letters@sduniontri­bune.com. These and additional letters can be viewed online at sandiegoun­iontribune.com/letters

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