A new approach to solving L.A.’s housing crisis.
L.A.’s housing crisis is no secret. Skyrocketing rents—more than twice as high as in cities like Houston, Texas —have created hardship for a wide swath of L.A. County residents. Homeownership is also prohibitively expensive for the average Angeleno. In L.A. County, the median sales price for an existing single-family home in 2021—$848,970—was 14% higher than the previous year, putting the dream of home ownership out of reach for many. Residents are managing the high cost of housing in different ways. Some spend an unsustainable percentage of their income on rent. Others move to outlying suburbs, requiring “super commutes” that add to traffic congestion, expensive fuel consumption, and pollution. In other cases, cash-strapped families double- or even triple-up in small apartments. Those are the lucky ones. Many Angelenos don’t have any answer to high housing costs—and they fall into homelessness. We confront the evidence of this every day. On our streets and in our parks, we see the tents and the encampments. And then there are our unhoused neighbors who are less visible—sleeping in cars, on friends’ couches, and in shelters. There are an estimated 63,000 people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County—a situation 95% of voters see as the city’s biggest problem. While many factors contribute to homelessness—including mental-health challenges, substance-use disorders, systemic racism, and more—the data show that the main culprit behind the scale of the crisis is housing costs. For example, homelessness tracks consistently with rent burden. Vacancy rates in L.A. County are at a 22-year low right now, driving up the cost of housing and forcing people onto the streets. And while many point to substance use disorders as a big driver, it should be noted that the state with the highest rate of drug-overdose deaths (West Virginia) ranks 44th in homelessness. The driving factor behind these high housing costs is supply—or, more precisely, the lack of it. L.A. now has the fewest number of homes per adult than any major U.S. city. How did we get to this place—where housing supply is so limited?