Housing

Perspectives of Program Officers and Grantees

  • Rent is a significant portion of a family’s expenses. The increase in households who are rent-burdened is evident as jobs become more unstable.
  • Many families live in small apartments, making them more susceptible to contracting Covid. Future data on overcrowding in housing units will help us understand how this may contribute to disparate infection rates.

Policy Opportunities

Systems Change

  • Enact comprehensive renter and eviction protections to increase housing security. Focus on low-income families and prevent harassment and intimidation of renters regardless of race and ethnicity, and immigration status. This includes rent control, freezes and reductions, a cap on rent based on income, renters’ rights and protections, rent relief and forgiveness, just-cause eviction ordinances, right to counsel, and a focus on making housing more affordable. End the use of the Sheriff’s Department enforcing evictions and replace them with housing assistance coordinators. For the duration of the pandemic, cancel rent to prevent future debt and future eviction. 
  • Preempt gentrification and displacement of local community members. Ensure new housing construction benefits current residents and not solely newcomers or tourists. Support land use policies and plans on and around high quality transit corridors which includes tenant protections, anti-displacement measures and equity development goals. 
  • Increase investments in local communities. Reform the under taxation of commercial property.
    Restore indigenous ownership over their land. Include language on following leadership of Indigenous peoples in restoring the relationship to their land and giving land back to their communities. Incorporate a decolonial lens in community control of the land. 

Infrastructure to Support Family & Children

  • Protect tenants from displacement by establishing non-commercialized, community-controlled housing to ensure landlords cannot remove tenants to realize more profits, and support community land trusts and nonprofit infrastructure that permanently creates affordable housing. Source: Bold Vision & DPH Ad Hoc Affordable Housing Subcommittee
  • Invest in long-term community power building in advance of the L.A. 2028 Summer Olympics. Ensure youth of color, undocumented people, and homeless people are not criminalized and arrested because of Olympic-related land use and enforcement policies. Source: Bold Vision
  • Repurpose unused space to address housing, healthcare, and child care needs. Encourage repurposing of unused space, such as unused warehouses, lots, and abandoned homes, for affordable housing and other community needs, including early learning and care programs and community clinics that serve as urgent care centers. Source: Bold Vision

Direct Services & Technical Support

Data

Homelessness in Best Start geographies

Metro L.A. has the highest number of sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals at 2,301 individuals, despite being one of the smallest Best Start geographies, and is a predominantly Latinx community.


Why this matters: Housing is a human right. Families and children who are not housed are not uplifted to succeed. Investing in communities and putting individuals in homes inherently improves opportunities for their children.


Homelessness in Best Start Regions

Region 1 has the largest population of sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals at 5,065 people. For all five regions, the majority of homeless individuals are unsheltered, meaning they are not connected to any safety net system.

Why this matters: Homeless individuals and families who are not connected to any safety net resource are difficult to find and therefore support. They are more likely lacking fundamental resources such as food or water.


* Please note that the Region 4 data includes methodologies from both the Long Beach Homeless Count and the Los Angeles Housing Authority (LAHSA) Homeless Count.

Racial Disparities in the Rent-burdened Within Best Start geographies

The graphs below show the percentage of annual income households spent on rent in each of the Best Start geographies by race. Households which spend a high percentage of their income on rent have less money for other essential needs such as food or child care. When looking at the data across race, it is easy to see people of color are disproportionately spending more of their income on rent compared to white individuals. This widens the opportunity gap for children and families of color.

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