The City of Twentynine Palms’ newest City Council member is Octavious Scott, who took office early this year. Scott was the guest on last Friday’s (April 14) Z107.7 Up Close Show, where he spoke with host Gary Daigneault about issues facing the hi desert city. Scott outlined a major concern of his, which is the high rental rate in Twentynine Palms.
Octavious Scott: “About 70% of our homes are renter occupied, so we have a low home ownership rate. That’s a lot. People will say it’s because we are a military town, and that’s why our rental rate is higher than average, but I’ve been around the county, and it’s unique in Twentynine Palms. We have a problem with home ownership here. We have to increase home ownership.”
When Scott was asked about what the city doing to meet the need for affordable housing, he stressed that new affordable housing is not the solution for Twentynine Palms, saying that the Town should work with people and help them to purchase homes in the area for themselves.
Scott: “We have to do workshops. Educate the public. We live in a rural area, you don’t even need a down payment, you can use the USDA loan. You can buy property in Twentynine Palms with no money down, we should be encouraging residents to do this so that we aren’t relying on some corporatist from LA who’s built all these properties up and now wants $2500 a month for a three bedroom house.”
You can listen to the Gary Daigneault’s full interview with Councilmember Octavious Scott as a podcast right here:
