Cisneros Housing Venture Leaves Poor Out in the Cold

Kaufman & Broad’s well-financed venture with Henry Cisneros will further exacerbate the housing shortage for the less-than-$10-an-hour wage earner in Southern California [“Cisneros Forms Company to Build Homes,” Aug. 8]. There is no public benefit to cheer about.

Cities will fall all over themselves to attract the Cisneros gentrification group as a way to eliminate probably the only truly affordable housing for families earning less than $10.

We are all for eliminating these apartments after new replacement housing is built for the existing residents.

There will be a continuing scramble for the “last developable piece of land,” and prices will continue to skyrocket. Deep-pocket developers able to consummate escrows with cash will rule. Good urban planning, aesthetics and empathy for the poor will have little to do with the result.

We find little leadership from either the present or past Department of Housing and Urban Development for housing families earning less than $10 an hour. Hopefully, those like [Eli] Broad, [Bruce] Karatz, Cisneros and other Southern California financial leaders will begin to realize their “legacy community” consists of squalid slums with Third World living conditions and that they can help change that.

ALLEN P. BALDWIN

Executive Director, Orange County

Community Housing Corp.

Santa Ana