Lens on Racial and Economic Challenges in Dallas

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UCLA Luskin Urban Planning and Public Policy Professor Michael Lens weighed in on the challenges of establishing a so-called “Black Mecca” in Dallas in an interview with The Dallas Observer. While some cities have historically served as economic and cultural hubs for Black communities, Lens noted that Dallas lacks the key factors that have fostered such environments elsewhere. “The history of segregation and limited economic mobility for Black residents in Dallas makes it difficult to establish a thriving, self-sustaining Black economic center,” he explained. His comments highlight broader systemic barriers to Black homeownership, wealth-building, and neighborhood stability in the region.

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UCLA Grants Deepen Ties to the L.A. Community Projects by Luskin faculty will build collaboration among scholars, students and local partners

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The first goal of UCLA’s Strategic Plan is deepening collaborations and connections with Los Angeles. This academic year, several UCLA Luskin faculty are helping the university meet that mark.

As recipients of grants from the UCLA Center for Community Engagement, these faculty will explore ways to strengthen ties between community partners and UCLA students and scholars, with the goal of finding solutions to L.A.’s most pressing issues.

This year, the UCLA Community-Engaged Research Grants will fund exploratory projects including:

Achieving and Implementing Abolition in Los Angeles

Co-Principal Investigators: David C. Turner III, assistant professor of social welfare, and Kelly Lytle Hernandez, professor of history, African American studies and urban planning

Community Partners: Justice LA; Check the Sheriff’s Coalition; Police-Free LAUSD Coalition; People’s Budget LA Coalition; PUSH LA Coalition; LA Youth Uprising Coalition

Million Dollar Hoods is a UCLA research project that advances the labors of activists and advocates working to change how public dollars are spent in Los Angeles. In particular, it advances the work of those seeking to reduce criminal justice budgets while expanding health services, housing options, welfare benefits and employment opportunities. This grant will fund a deep strategic planning and research process focused on implementing community-led policy initiatives that reallocate public resources to supporting human-centered services.

Aligning Housing Policy With Popular Demand for More Housing

Co-Principal Investigators: Zachary Steinert-Threlkeld, associate professor of public policy, and Paavo Monkkonen, professor of urban planning and public policy

Community Partner: Abundant Housing Los Angeles

Angelenos understand the scarcity of housing and want to see more constructed. According to a November 2020 survey by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, 64% of Angelenos call increasing housing supply a top or high priority. Support for more housing is one of the few bipartisan policy issues in the country, yet new housing construction in Los Angeles remains at multi-decade lows and rents and housing prices continue to rise. Untangling this puzzle is the focus of this community research.

Building Urban Soil Networks in Los Angeles for Research and Action

Co-Principal Investigators: Kirsten Schwarz, associate professor of urban planning and environmental health sciences, and Jennifer Jay, professor of civil and environmental engineering

Community Partners: TreePeople; Physicians for Social Responsibility – LA; Communities for a Better Environment; Watts Labor Community Action Committee – Better Watts Initiative

Urban soils are an important regional and national equity concern that shape the health and well-being of urban dwellers. They also represent a paradox of sorts, as contaminated soils are a hazard and clean soils are beneficial to the ecosystem. This project brings together community groups active in urban soils work in the L.A. region to build relationships, identify potential collaborations, and begin the process of coalescing around a common set of research priorities and actions.

Building Worker Power: Support for Low-Wage Worker Leadership With the Los Angeles Worker Center Network

Co-Principal Investigators: Chris Zepeda-Millan, associate professor of public policy, Chicano/a and Central American studies and political science, and chair of UCLA’s Labor Studies program; and Tobias Higbie, professor of history and director of the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment

Community Partners: Los Angeles Worker Center Network, including: CLEAN CarWash Worker Center; Garment Worker Center; Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance; Los Angeles Black Worker Center; Pilipino Workers Center; Restaurant Opportunities Center Los Angeles; Warehouse Workers Resource Center

The UCLA Labor Center, a founding member of the Los Angeles Worker Center Network, seeks to document best practices around multi-racial, multi-industry, multi-language organizing in support of labor standards, immigrant rights and anti-discrimination enforcement. In this project, researchers and worker centers will determine the best methods — such as popular education, storytelling, academic journals and social media — to document successful and replicable L.A. worker campaigns since 2009. They will also implement legal clinics and provide technical assistance to local agencies enforcing fair labor laws.

Healing Within While Incarcerated: The Role of Credible Messengers in Transformative Justice in L.A. County

Co-Principal Investigators: Lauren Ng, assistant professor of psychology, and Laura Abrams, professor of social welfare

Community Partner: Healing Dialogue and Action

Incarcerated youth experience a multitude of poor social, emotional and physical health outcomes after detention. To address these concerns, Los Angeles County has adopted a “rehabilitative, care-first model” of juvenile justice that is being implemented by Credible Messengers — leaders with the lived experience of incarceration. There has been limited academic collaboration investigating Credible Messenger programs. This partnership with an organization working in county juvenile justice facilities will advance the science behind the Credible Messenger approach with the aim of promoting healing of justice-involved youth.

Housing and Homelessness Justice Research Collaborative

Co-Principal Investigators: Chris Herring, assistant professor of sociology, and Ananya Roy, professor of urban planning, social welfare and geography

Community Partners: LA Tenants Union; Union de Vecinos

This grant supports a recently established collaborative partnership between UCLA faculty and the Downtown local of the LA Tenants Union. The funds will allow the partners to broaden a study of Los Angeles’ Permanent Supportive Housing initiative to address homelessness. Despite billions of dollars recently committed to this initiative, no research to date has examined its success or weaknesses. The UCLA grant will allow additional community partners to participate and aid the collaborative in envisioning a multi-year tenant justice research agenda.

Interdisciplinary Center on Housing and Homelessness

Co-Principal Investigators: Till von Wachter, professor of economics; Michael Lens, professor of urban planning and public policy; and Elizabeth Bromley, professor in residence of psychiatry and anthropology

Community Partners: Individual community members; Los Angeles Homelessness Services Authority; L.A. County Department of Health Services; L.A. County Department of Mental Health; L.A. County Department of Social Services

L.A.’s housing and homelessness crises are caused by a complex web of factors ranging from lack of housing production and zoning policies to structural racism in labor markets and justice systems. This project focuses on developing an interdisciplinary center that brings research communities together with people with lived experience of homelessness and policymakers from Los Angeles government and nonprofit agencies. The project emphasizes structural reforms needed to reduce homelessness and aims to inform the public debate by replacing misconceptions with data and research.

Previous awards from the UCLA Center for Community Engagement supported the development of two courses designed to immerse undergraduates in community-engaged research. The grants went to Associate Professor of Public Policy Meredith Phillips, who developed a course on data analysis for educational research, and Associate Professor of Social Welfare Lené Levy-Storms, who developed a course on human aging through an interdisciplinary lens.

Read about all of the 2024-25 Community-Engaged Research Exploratory Grants.

Lens on Zoning Changes in Minneapolis

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Michael Lens, UCLA Luskin professor of urban planning and public policy, commented in a Minneapolis Spokesman-Recorder article on Minneapolis’ progress over the past 14 years to end a longtime policy of exclusionary single-family zoning, which “perpetuates segregation by race and class,” Lens said. He explained, “Multi-family housing, particularly in higher-income neighborhoods in cities with high housing demand, is often more affordable for people than single-family homes.” Over more than a decade, the city has dedicated half of its construction projects, more than $1 billion in construction value, to affordable housing, according to the story. Relaxed zoning laws, part of the city’s 2040 plan, allows duplexes and triplexes to be built in residential areas as well as promote denser development near transit. The changes are intended to increase affordable housing in areas historically subject to exclusionary zoning practices, including business corridors, to provide better access to housing near jobs and services.

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Lens on L.A.’s Spiking Rental Housing Prices During Wildfires

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UCLA Luskin Professor of Public Policy and Urban Planning Michael Lens commented in an LAist story on skyrocketing rental housing prices in Los Angeles amid the region’s devastating wildfires. The article cites examples of online listings nearly doubling since the fires broke out, while thousands of residents who have lost their homes or been displaced are now scrambling to find alternative places to live. California Gov. Gavin Newsom already has imposed an emergency declaration that includes a ban on price gouging — any price increase above 10% of pre-disaster rates. In another LAist story, Lens said homeowners who’ve paid off their mortgages and long-term renters who were paying below market rates could particularly struggle to get back on their feet. “Folks who haven’t had to really think about where they’re going to live next — who may have been living in, fortunately, stable housing situations for the last couple decades — are going to see a lot of sticker shock,” Lens said.

 

The Evolution of Black Neighborhoods, Through a Hip-Hop Lens

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A new book by UCLA Luskin Professor Michael Lens examines the characteristics and trajectories of Black neighborhoods across the United States over the 50 years since passage of the Fair Housing Act.

In “Where the Hood At?,” Lens uses the growing influence of hip-hop music, born out of Black neighborhoods in the 1970s, to frame a discussion of the conditions that have allowed these communities to flourish or decline.

Published this week by the Russell Sage Foundation, the book reveals significant gaps in quality of life between Black Americans and other racial and ethnic groups, and also shows that neighborhood conditions vary substantially region by region. For example, Black neighborhoods are more likely to thrive in the South but are particularly disadvantaged in the Midwest and Rust Belt.

Lens offers several recommendations for policies designed to uplift Black neighborhoods. One radical proposal is implementing programs, such as tax breaks for entrepreneurs or small business owners, that would encourage Black Americans to move to prosperous communities in the South and consolidate their political and economic power. He also calls for building more affordable housing in Black suburbs, where poverty levels are lower than in central cities.

Lens is a professor of urban planning and public policy, chair of the Luskin Undergraduate Programs and associate faculty director of the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. His research and teaching explore the potential of public policy to address housing market inequities that disadvantage low-income families and communities of color.

 

Mixed Results on Housing Initiatives

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An LAist article on local and state ballot measures addressing housing and homelessness called on UCLA Luskin’s Michael Lens and Shane Phillips for perspective. The latest returns show that more than 56% of L.A. County voters supported Measure A, which increases sales taxes to fund homeless services and new affordable housing development. However, Measure H, the initiative that first established the tax back in 2017, drew 69% support, noted Phillips, a researcher with the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. The dip in support may signal fatigue with funding homelessness efforts through the ballot box. Lens, a professor of urban planning and public policy, weighed in on Proposition 5, the state initiative that would have made it easier to pass affordable housing bonds. Angelenos joined other Californians in voting Prop. 5 down, perhaps because they found the initiative confusing. “A lot of times the default, I think, goes to ‘no’ because you’re suspicious if you don’t fully understand something,” Lens said.

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Understanding Key L.A. Ballot Measures Three UCLA Luskin experts weigh in on city and county measures aimed at fixing entrenched problems

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By Elizabeth Kivowitz

With recent indictment charges against New York City’s mayor and the media focused on the presidential election, it’s easy to forget Los Angeles City Hall was rocked by scandal two years ago when a secret recording of City Council members discussing redistricting exposed racism and corruption at City Hall. The city and county also continue to have the largest numbers of unhoused people in the nation.

To try to address some of these challenges, Angelenos are being asked to vote on a number of ballot measures and charter amendments.

UCLA convened a panel of experts on local ballot measures in Los Angeles County (video) to shed some light on these efforts to create greater transparency, better governance and improved quality of life in the nation’s second largest city — specifically Measures A and G and Charter Amendments DD, LL and ER.

Some excerpts:

Gary Segura, professor of public policy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, co-chaired the L.A. Governance Reform Project, a coalition of scholars and researchers who developed proposals for bringing better governance to L.A.’s halls of power. Segura spoke about Charter Amendment DD, LL and ER, which would create independent redistricting commissions for seats on the City Council (DD) and L.A. Unified School District Board (LL) and strengthen the city’s ethics commission (ER). Segura says:

“I think there was a sense that ethics and governance in Los Angeles had reached a point where there were more embarrassments than the city could reasonably continue to endure. … So after the recording was released, there was a sense, in a variety of corners in the county, in the city and in civil society, that something had to be done.”

“The independent redistricting commission [for the City Council] that we will vote on doesn’t take effect until after the 2030 census. … So those somewhat illegitimate seats are going to continue until 2032. That’ll be the first time to change it. Both L.A. city and county are 48% Latino. The city has 33% Latino representation, and the county is even lower. So that’s the background here. And the city, I think, didn’t act in good faith, so much so that the attorney general of California, Rob Bonta, is investigating to see if he can bring a case against the city to force them to redistrict sooner than the 2032 election.”

“You’ll hear talk of charter reform, and this is a classic example. Whenever a public body doesn’t wish to put specific reforms on the ballot, you create a charter reform commission because it kicks the entire thing down the road and offloads responsibility.”

Zev Yaroslavsky, executive director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin, served on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for 20 years and on the Los Angeles City Council for nearly 20 years before that. He offered insight on Measure G, a governance measure that would expand the number of county supervisors from five to nine and create an elected executive. He cited decades of failure of the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital, the county’s largest, before it was temporarily shut down in 2007 by the federal government, as well as accountability and decision-making during the recent COVID-19 pandemic, as proof that the county needs an elected executive:

“There was no risk to us politically, no existential risk that if the hospital shut down that we would somehow lose our election, because there was no one person who was politically accountable to the people of L.A. County. No mayor would have allowed that to go on for 30 years with incompetence. No business would run that way. No state would run that way. Our country doesn’t run that way.”

“You had five supervisors who had five different shades of opinion about what to do in response to the pandemic. None of them have a medical degree or a public health degree. As I’ve said many times … you can negotiate with the Board of Supervisors. You can’t negotiate with the COVID-19 virus that has a mind of its own, and we got away with a lot, but we had a lot of people die. We would have a lot more people die if [Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Director] Barbara Ferrer didn’t have a backbone and was willing to use her credibility with the board. But that’s not the way it should work. She should be accountable to the mayor of the county, to the chief executive, and not negotiate about it. Let the science dictate what needs to be done.”

Michael Lens, UCLA Luskin professor of urban planning and public policy, acknowledged that voters are concerned that prior measures have not solved homelessness.

“While the existing 1/4 cent sales tax, Measure H, has funneled billions of dollars into homelessness services and housing, we can’t be sure that Measure A, a 1/2 cent sales tax, in perpetuity, will solve it either. But we do know that there is an extreme need, and that’s the trade-off that voters face.”

A Test of L.A. County’s Ballot Measures on Homelessness

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UCLA Luskin Professor of Public Policy and Urban Planning Michael Lens commented in an LAist story on measures meant to address homelessness efforts in Los Angeles County. Measure H, approved by voters in 2017, has a sunset date in 2027, while Measure A, on this November’s ballot, would include a half-cent sales tax intended to continue addressing homelessness. “A lot of people look around and say, ‘What has this money necessarily done for us?’” Lens said, but he noted that voters might also conclude that the crisis could be much worse if not for Measure H. In a CalMatters article by Jim Newton of UCLA’s Blueprint magazine, Lens said that whether voters can be sure that investments like Measure A will pay off is “a bit of a leap of faith.” In the same article, Zev Yaroslavsky, longtime public servant and director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin, said the measure will serve as a referendum on progress achieved so far, warning, “This may be the last shot.”
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Read the CalMatters story

Affordable Housing Aspirations and Hurdles

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UCLA Luskin’s Michael Lens spoke to CalMatters about Vice President Kamala Harris’ pledge to build 3 million affordable homes in her first term if she is elected president — and how a similar campaign promise made by California Gov. Gavin Newsom has fared. Harris’ plan includes tax incentives, an “innovation fund” to finance construction, repurposing federal land for housing, streamlining the permitting process — “all of the stuff we talk about at dorky academic conferences,” said Lens, a professor of urban planning and public policy. But as Newsom found, transforming the housing market from the top is difficult, thanks to pricey land, high construction costs, onerous regulations and community resistance. California officials are pushing to clear regulatory hurdles, with modest impact so far but the promise of a faster pace of home construction in the future. “That’s a precursor to making a lot of these things work,” Lens said. “We have to make housing more allowable in more places.”

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Trump, Harris and the U.S. Housing Crisis

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A Fortune article assessing housing policies that could be expected under a Kamala Harris or Donald Trump administration called on UCLA Luskin’s Michael Lens for insight. Harris unveiled a plan calling for the development of 3 million homes, supported by tax incentives for builders and other federal policies — “a lot like what I would write down as a wish list for addressing housing affordability in this country,” Lens said. “It leads with the obvious long-term culprit: zoning and land-use barriers” but lacks details on how to overcome local policies that have stymied building in some parts of the country. Trump, who made his fortune in real estate, has sent mixed messages about housing policy. He once called zoning “a killer” but has also vowed to protect American suburbs by standing up for single-family zoning laws. Rhetorically, at least, Trump seems to side with a more protectionist, regulatory policies, said Lens, a professor of urban planning and public policy.

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