Turn condos into HUD-run housing There’s an old saying about a guy deciding to drain the swamp, which then becomes inundated with alligators. When San Diego allowed thousands of new housing units Downtown, that was a blessing for construction workers, commerce and developers and potentially for property-tax revenue. But the city also got rid of most of the inexpensive housing, used by the hotel maids, janitors, bartenders, cab drivers, cooks and the elderly and disabled. It ended the housing shortage but created an affordability problem. It also increased the number of homeless (“alligators” in the analogy). Few jobs pay enough to buy a condo Downtown. And if wealthy retirees should [want to] live there, how many of them lost money in stocks and scams and can no longer afford to do so? I want to see the tens of thousands of vacant residences Downtown run by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development — the tenant pays $200 a month and the federal government another $800 a month. To help this happen, I propose a real estate tax of $2,000 per month on each vacant unit. That would help San Diego pay its bills without dreadful cuts [in services]. After all, government spending cuts are the only thing that causes an economic depression. You think you got lots of alligators now? Keep draining the swamp, and your leg will get bitten with a 45 percent unemployment rate! John Kitchin, Alpine