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Is Stadium Development In Inglewood Helping Or Hurting The City?
Inglewood is already stadium central, but is that helping or hurting the community?
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Inglewood is becoming stadium-rich, with SoFi, the Forum and, coming soon, the Clippers' future Intuit Dome.
Today on KPCC's Airtalk, Inglewood Mayor James Butts said this is a blessing for the area's businesses. But others disagree, saying the new stadiums are contributing to gentrification. A caller named Kim from Inglewood is a member of the housing activist group Here to Stay.
"Well all the members of Here to Stay live and work in Inglewood … most are tenants, also some homeowners, and we're just seeing massive displacement of primarily the low income and working class community of Inglewood that's been there for decades," she said. "That includes homeowners that are being preyed upon by bad mortgage companies ... as well as people that are being displaced due to increasing rents."
Kim blamed the wave of development and said it mainly benefits the wealthy.
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Mayor Butts argued that Inglewood still remains a leader in providing affordable and fair housing, and that the development has actually benefitted Inglewood homeowners.
"The city of Inglewood has more affordable housing units per capita and in whole numbers than anywhere in the South Bay," he said. "Now let's talk about people being preyed upon by lenders. I've never heard anything so ridiculous. The reality is if you own a house in Inglewood, and have owned it for at least five years, your property value has increased in the area of 200 to 300 percent."
Butts also noted that Inglewood's 3% rent increase cap is lower than the state cap of 5%.
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