[Puffer Fish]

Many cities in California have a dire housing shortage, not enough homes for everyone.
The state's solution?
Hand out a free $40,000 to homeowners so they can transform their garage into a living space for someone else to live there.
That's right, the state's solution to not enough housing involves people living in the garage.
Something that's already very common in many parts of the state due to the high number of low income immigrants.
Except the state now wants to encourage this.

California gave us $40,000 to turn our garage into a tiny home. There was a lot of paperwork, but it lets us live next to our grandkids. Kelsey Neubauer kneubauer@insider.com , Business Insider, August 28, 2023

Is it really appropriate for the state to be paying for this type of thing? Isn't this the type of thing that the homeowner should be paying for?

$40,000 is more money than most low income working people earn.
This money is going to be coming from taxes, and the state already has some of the highest taxes in the country.

And what effect on neighborhoods is this policy going to have? Is it going to result in overcrowding and worsen parking problems on the street?
In some neighborhoods a lot of households cement over their front yards and install a big tall fence and gate because it is not safe to park their cars on the street, with the high crime rates. This often makes these neighborhoods look unsightly and unpleasant. Many California neighborhoods have a parking problem, because the homes are so jam-packed full of people living there, that it can be challenging to find anywhere to park on the street. There are too many cars in these neighborhoods and not enough parking spaces.
Converting more garages into living spaces is only going to exacerbate these problems, and lead to lower quality of life for others living in the neighborhood.

This seems like a desperate and idiotic solution. If the state thought it was a good idea for people to live in garages, fine. But they are making this a government policy and actually providing grants to pay for it?
By providing these grants, the government is going to be essentially subsidizing people to live in garages.

This almost seems like insanity to me, and does not seem like the proper role of government.
It's the Leftist mentality, always thinking government has to provide a specific money for something if they think it's a good idea.

It should be noted that a lot of these grants are most likely going to be directed towards Hispanic-owned homes who are going to be renting out their garages to illegal immigrants, since living in garages is common amongst this demographic group.

The phenomena of living in garages is probably going to be concentrated in Los Angeles county, other parts of Southern California, such as Santa Ana and San Diego, and San Francisco and Oakland.

[Robert Urbanek]

And, of course, vehicles parked on the street instead of the garage are more vulnerable to being vandalized or stolen, or having their catalytic converters ripped off.

[Godstud]

What is wrong with turning a garage into an apartment? Most garages would make a really good apartment with only a few additions. What is the alternative, more homelessness? Would you rather spend the same money on the same people but with no results?

[Puffer Fish]

What is wrong with turning a garage into an apartment?

It's going to contribute to turning neighborhoods into slums, contribute to excessive population density and all the problems that inevitably come along with that. Probably bring a lower income demographic into those neighborhoods and result in higher local crime rates.
It's one thing if a family was doing this for a family member. So-called "mother-in-law" apartments (accessory dwellings) used to be common. But more likely this is just going to result in overcrowding, opportunistic landlords now being able to rent out to more strangers on the property, jamming more people into the residence.
And even if we accept that it should be the right of homeowners to do this if they want to, that does not mean the state should be helping to pay for it.

It seems the Left is embracing lower living standards and expectations, by viewing this as a desirable public policy and financially encouraging it.

It's important to emphasise that we are talking about houses in suburban neighborhoods with small lot sizes where open space is already limited. Why convert the garage into a separate living space? Because there wouldn't really be room on the property to build a new structure.

But I'm sure most on the Left will be completely unable to see what is wrong with this, even if they try.

[Godstud]

It's going to contribute to turning neighborhoods into slums, contribute to excessive population density and all the problems that inevitably come along with that. Probably bring a lower income demographic into those neighborhoods and result in higher local crime rates.

That's an idiotic assertion to make. Maybe only if people like you lived there...

[Pants-of-dog]

As cars become more obsolete and expensive, and the price of housing increases, this seems like a viable solution to turn homes designed for a single nuclear family into multigenerational housing.

Mind you, I am enjoying how regulations prohibiting densification of residential housing are the fault of the Left, and now getting rid of these regulations is also the fault of the left.