Affordable Housing Forum

Squeezed from all sides

The squeeze on middle-class and working-class families is tightening from all directions. In addition to lost homes, skipped meals and neglected medical conditions, the consequences now extend to abandoned cars and abandoned pets.

More people have lost their jobs and can't afford the gas for a job hunt. Rising energy prices contribute to higher food costs. Foreclosures are shredding the American dream for many homeowners and displacing renters as well. In one sad indicator, animal shelters throughout San Diego County say they are flooded with pets people can no longer keep.

And healthcare costs for the average family continue to climb steeply. A new study estimates that 25 million insured Americans are actually under-insured, with flimsy coverage that leaves them vulnerable to huge deductibles and out-of-pocket costs.

In May, the national unemployment rate made its biggest jump in two decades -- 8.5 million workers are now unemployed, not counting those forced into part-time work. Relatively high-paying sectors like construction are particularly hard-hit, and the loss of jobs drags down wages across industries.

The way out: Good jobs

There are lights of hope. In an inspiring commentary published in the Los Angeles Times Wednesday, Radisson Hotel LAX owner Peter Dumon admonished his fellow employers that the squeeze on workers isn't helping the economy or their corporate bottom lines. "The living wage is a profit-enhancing idea," Dumon writes. He goes on:

Oddly, some businesses ? view their employees as costs to be contained rather than resources to be nurtured. Are we really so presumptuous as to assume that these men and women who operate our hotels, clean our guest rooms and cook and serve our meals should not benefit from the success they helped produce?

In San Diego, CPI is advocating local policies to create and preserve living wage jobs with healthcare coverage. The San Diego City Council will take crucial votes in the coming weeks on:

Strengthening enforcement of the Living Wage Ordinance,
Enacting protections to ensure the Mayor's plan to outsource city jobs doesn't create poverty jobs.
As hearing dates are set, CPI will send alerts.

Whether you can attend the meeting, call your councilmember or send an e-mail, your voice is needed! More than ever, we need strong local policies to bolster our economic base of good jobs.

Affordable housing forum

On Saturday afternoon, June 28, a free public forum will address potential solutions to the foreclosure crisis in San Diego County. The high-powered panel includes:

California Assembly Member Lori Saldaña, who chairs the Assembly housing committee;
San Diego City Councilmember Tony Young, co-chair of the City-County Reinvestment Task Force, which monitors lending practices and promotes affordable housing;
Harold Meyerson, Washington Post columnist and editor of the American Prospect

The forum will be 1-5 p.m. June 28, at the Tubman Chavez Multicultural Center, the southeast corner of Euclid and Market streets. Come ask your questions! For more information, contact the Affordable Housing Coalition, ahcsd@cox.net or 619-225-0377.

Good reads on the squeeze

A new book by Economic Policy Institute senior economist Jared Bernstein, Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed?, is an accessible explanation of what has happened to the bulk of Americans economically, with a prescription for repairing the damage.

In The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, New York Times labor and workplace reporter Steven Greenhouse explores the stress on workers of all types has the social contract between employers and employees has eroded.

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Center on Policy Initiatives
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San Diego, CA 92108 : (619) 584-5744
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