UCLA Partners With New Independent Commission for Climate-Resilient Fire Recovery Experts will provide L.A. civic leaders with research-informed policy options for building safer, more resilient communities

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By Jason Islas

Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk announced that UCLA will provide its world-class research expertise and programmatic support to an independent commission tasked with developing policy recommendations to guide a safe and resilient recovery for Los Angeles in the wake of the 2025 wildfires.

“The commission we are announcing is a terrific example of our university and its partners in the region working together,” Frenk said at a Feb. 13 news conference. “UCLA is not just a university in Los Angeles. It is a university of Los Angeles. Today’s blue-ribbon commission answers that call to action, and we are pleased to partner with Supervisor Horvath on this important initiative.”

“Los Angeles County cannot afford to simply rebuild what was lost — we must build for the future,” Horvath said. “This is our opportunity to rethink how we design communities, fortify infrastructure, and protect lives from the growing threats of the climate crisis. The blue-ribbon commission will ensure that we lead the way in creating fire-safe, climate-resilient communities that will stand for generations. Our communities are invited into this process led by Los Angeles’ leading experts across academia, urban design and sustainability, environmental justice, housing and finance.”

UCLA’s advisors will be led by Megan Mullin, faculty director of the Luskin Center for Innovation, in consultation with Julia Stein, deputy director for the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA School of Law, and in partnership with Alex Hall, director of the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge. They will marshal UCLA’s expertise to bring objective, research-informed insights and innovative options to a commission of more than a dozen respected civic leaders, chaired by Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator CEO Matt Peterson, to inform their policy recommendations for L.A.’s future.

“Our region has always lived with fire, but our communities weren’t built for the climate-induced mega-fires we see now,” Mullin said. “We have a short window of opportunity to not only rebuild homes and businesses but also to create more resilient and equitable communities.”

The commission will develop recommendations focused on:

  • Fire-safe reconstruction: Implementing fire-resistant materials, defensible space strategies and climate-smart building standards.
  • Resilient infrastructure: Undergrounding utilities, expanding water storage and conveyance, and hardening power grids.
  • Faster rebuilding: Identifying resilient home designs and systems that could be pre-approved to expedite reconstruction, and offering financial incentives to support rebuilding.
  • Equitable recovery: Reducing the risk of displacement, ensuring affordable insurance and prioritizing support for vulnerable communities.

“An uncoordinated race to rebuild will amplify inequality and leave people at risk of future fires. This commission seeks to change that with thoughtful, data-driven policy solutions to build resilient communities for the future we’re facing,” Mullin said.

Hall, who launched the Climate and Wildfire Research Initiative through the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge to develop knowledge, tools and new modes of thinking to confront Southern California’s rapidly evolving wildfire challenge, said, “Los Angeles is at a turning point. This commission is a generational opportunity for UCLA to provide L.A. civic leaders with the expert knowledge — drawn from years of rigorous research — they need to create the policies that will shape the region for decades to come.”

“The world is watching to see how L.A. comes back from these devastating fires; it is hard to overstate the historic importance of this moment — and the role our university will play,” Hall said.

Participating UCLA faculty include:

  • Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment: Mary Nichols
  • Luskin School of Public Affairs: Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Evelyn Blumenberg, Greg Pierce, Mike Lens, Paul Ong, Minjee Kim, Liz Koslov
  • School of Architecture and Urban Design: Dana Cuff, Stephanie Landregan
  • Ziman Center for Real Estate: Stuart Gabriel
  • Institute of the Environment and Sustainability: Stephanie Pincetl, Aradhna Tripati
  • UCLA Labor Center: Saba Waheed
  • Fielding School of Public Health: Wendy Slusser

A portion of this effort is supported by a grant from the California Community Foundation and in-kind support from UCLA.

Mapping a Just Way Forward for L.A. As Los Angeles grapples with the impact of catastrophic fires, experts in public affairs provide context and insight

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Experts from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs are providing context and insight to news outlets covering Los Angeles’ catastrophic wildfires and the road to recovery. Here is a selection of their comments:

  • Liz Koslov, assistant professor of urban planning, on the need for humane and reasonable policies for recovery after the fires: “Rather than dream we can retreat our way out of the crisis, we must relearn, and learn anew, how to live with fire.” — New York Times     |     More from Koslov:  Bloomberg, Irish Times, The City
  • Megan Mullin, professor of public policy and faculty director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, on the importance of setting community-driven priorities for post-fire recovery: “Without forethought and without coordination, we’re going to risk a rebuild that amplifies the region’s inequality.” — Marketplace     |     More from Mullin:  Vox
  • Paul Ong, director of the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, on the challenges of recovery in diverse neighborhoods: “Altadena is a litmus test about how committed we are to racial justice.” —  CBS Evening News      |     More from Pierce:  Los Angeles Times
  • Veronica Terriquez, professor of urban planning and director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, on the loss of Chicano historian Juan Gómez-Quiñones’s archives in the Palisades fire: “The loss of his papers, the loss of other people’s archives. … We’re losing something really precious.” — Los Angeles Times
  • Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, interim dean of the Luskin School and distinguished professor of urban planning, on the inequalities arising from Southern California car culture, including wildfire risks heightened by climate change: Smog-producing cars became so central to life in the region because of “transportation policy that has quite favored the automobile and given a tremendous amount of investment to build the freeways.” — The Atlantic
  • Michael Manville, chair of UCLA Luskin Urban Planning, on the fires’ stressors on the Southern California housing market: “The upshot is that a lot of people who had been housed — who do have, for the most part, strong incomes — have just been thrust into the housing market, and they’re going to push up prices and rents, and also compete for contractors in an already tight labor market to get things rebuilt.”  — Commercial Observer    |    More from Manville:  Reason, New York Times
  • Chhandara Pech, deputy director of the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, on research showing that language barriers prevented some Asian American residents from easily accessing emergency information during the fires: “Government agencies should not only focus on reaching the largest population that’s affected by the wildfires, but it should also prioritize supporting the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach communities.” — Los Angeles Times
  • Paavo Monkkonen, professor of urban planning and public policy, on streamlining the bureaucracy of home-building, a reform long-sought by affordable housing advocates and now coming to pass only in fire-affected areas: “Now suddenly we’re going to get it — but just for this.”  — New York Times     |    More from Monkkonen:   Libération
  • Michael Lens, professor of urban planning and public policy, on L.A.’s elevated housing prices: “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.” — LAist    |     More from Lens:  Los Angeles Times, Fortune
  • José Loya, assistant professor of urban planning, on the likelihood that more affordable housing options can be found farther from the fire zones: “L.A. is still a very, very large place.” — Los Angeles Times, Washington Post
  • Stephen Commins, associate director of Global Public Affairs at UCLA Luskin, on the challenge of cleaning up homes and neighborhoods: “Every home has potential hazards — from older homes with asbestos to any home that contained paint cans, lithium batteries and other standard but toxic when incinerated household items.” — UCLA Newsroom
  • Zev Yaroslavsky, veteran public servant and director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin, on the city’s preparations for the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics: “What we cannot allow to happen is for the Olympics to take away the government’s attention from the most important thing, which is to rebuild after the fire.” — New York Times      |     More from Yaroslavsky:  L.A. Times Today, New York Times
  • Adam Millard-Ball, director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, on disconnected streets and disaster preparedness: “We’re seeing that the least-connected streets are in places that have historically been affected by fire. We know that the places that have burned in the past are also likely to burn in the future, and that’s true even in urbanized areas as well.” — Bloomberg     |     More from Millard-Ball:  Streetsblog, Next City
  • Minjee Kim, assistant professor of urban planning, on political rhetoric surrounding government requirements for rebuilding damaged or destroyed homes: “For any rebuilding that needs to happen, there shouldn’t be any additional ‘development permit’ that needs to be secured.” — Politico

 

Former Greek Prime Minister Cites Roles of Innovation and Imagination in Democracy George Papandreou's UCLA visit includes a briefing on wildfire management with Luskin scholars

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By Sean Brenner

Drawing vivid comparisons and contrasts between democracy’s standing in the world today and its origins in ancient Greece, George Papandreou outlined a vision for preserving and protecting citizens’ role in governance amid a global rise in authoritarianism.

Papandreou, who served as Greece’s prime minister from 2009 to 2011, spoke Jan. 22 at the UCLA Luskin Conference Center. He proposed the need for a “new democratic social contract.”

“If democracy is under siege, we must not merely defend it; we must reimagine it,” he said. “The challenges of climate change, inequality and technology demand innovation in governance.”

Papandreou, whose father, Andreas, and grandfather, Georgios, both also served as prime minister of Greece, enumerated a series of measures he said could help strengthen democracy. Among them: banning unlimited corporate donations to lobbyists, restoring democratic education in public service media, introducing wealth taxes on billionaires and requiring full transparency in political advertising.

“These are some ideas,” Papandreou said. “But politics in the way the ancients taught it was not what we have today, with polling, tweeting, soundbites and looking for donors. It was actually to expand their imagination of a better future. The ancient Greeks said, ‘We don’t need tyrants to tell us what to do. We don’t need monarchs or kings or high priests. We can decide our future. Therefore, we can imagine a better future.’

“So politics, which means being a good citizen, means that we can collectively think of a better future. … Let’s open our imagination. Let’s be open to new ideas.”

woman with dark hair and glasses at podium

UCLA Luskin’s Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris cites George Papandreou’s support for “progressive democratic policies within and beyond the boundary of Greece.” Photo by Vince Bucci Photography

Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, interim dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, introduced Papandreou, citing his passion for progressive democratic policies, deep commitment to global cooperation, and belief that governments are responsible for protecting the environment.

During his UCLA visit, Papandreou held a separate meeting on the urgent issue of wildfire management with Loukaitou-Sideris; Liz Koslov, an assistant professor of urban planning who specializes in climate justice; and Nicole Lambrou, who received her PhD in urban planning at UCLA Luskin and is now an assistant professor at Cal Poly Pomona.

At his public talk, Papandreou expressed sympathy for Angelenos who have been affected by the wildfires.

“I stand here before you with a heavy heart, as in recent days you have witnessed the horror of entire neighborhoods reduced to ash, lives uprooted, dreams turned to smoke,” he said, relating the experience to his having witnessed severe fires and floods destroy homes and natural habitats in Greece. “No words can truly capture the anguish of watching the place you call home disappear in flames.”

The talk was organized by the UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture, and sponsored in part by the UCLA College Division of Humanities and Division of Social Sciences, and the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

In her opening remarks, Sharon Gerstel, director of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center, highlighted its role as a nexus for intellectual and cultural programming based in a city that boasts a large and dynamic population of Greeks and Greek Americans.

Gerstel presented Papandreou with Greek and English versions of “Weaving Dreams: Kilims from Geraki, Laconia,” a book she co-edited that examines the history of textile art in the Greek village of Geraki.

Among the dignitaries in attendance were Christina Valassopolou, consul general of Greece in Los Angeles, and Andreas Kyprianides, honorary consul general of Cyprus in Los Angeles.

Watch the full lecture on the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center’s YouTube channel

Mega-Events, Major Opportunities As it prepares to host a series of monumental gatherings, L.A. is urged to seize the moment to bring lasting benefits to the region

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Los Angeles is preparing to host several monumental events in the coming years, including the FIFA World Cup in 2026, Super Bowl LXI in 2027, and the Summer Olympics and Paralympics in 2028.

How can government and civic leaders balance the immediate needs of these global exhibitions with long-term planning goals that advance accessibility, equity and sustainability across the region?

That question was the focus of “Mega Events, Major Opportunities,” the 34th annual UCLA Lake Arrowhead Symposium held in October. The three-day experience presented by the Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS) at UCLA Luskin drew nearly 170 attendees from the spheres of policymaking, urban planning, advocacy, philanthropy, academia and more.

Participants emphasized the need not just for temporary, event-specific game plans but also for lasting improvements that benefit the lives of Angelenos long after the crowds go home.

A report published by ITS summarizes the symposium’s key takeaways. Some highlights:

Coordination and Inclusion

Several speakers said Los Angeles’ preparations for the blitz of mega-events is like the rush to clean one’s house before guests arrive. The City of Los Angeles, LA Metro and the nonprofit LA28, which is organizing the Summer Olympics and Paralympics, are among the major entities working under deadline pressure to ensure the events are smoothly run.

But there’s a need for more coordination and transparency to identify and meet the common goals of government, civic and private sectors, several symposium participants said.

A top priority is authentic community engagement to hear directly from Angelenos about what investments might bring lasting benefits to their neighborhoods. In particular, attendees called for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the planning process, to help jumpstart Los Angeles’ stated commitment to improve accessibility for all.

A ‘Transit-First Games’

When the L.A. Games come to town, each venue will have a wide perimeter, thanks to U.S. Department of Homeland Security protocols. Public transit, not personal vehicles, will ferry most spectators to the events, creating a unique incentive to accelerate infrastructure changes that improve the efficiency of L.A.’s bus system. One strategy endorsed by symposium participants is a far-reaching public education campaign to help overcome political opposition to dedicated bus lanes, which can make transportation more affordable, equitable and climate-friendly.

Mega-event planners may be motivated by a desire to avoid traffic gridlock that causes spectators, workers, media and even athletes to miss events, but providing quality public transportation service for the people who live in Los Angeles ought to be top of mind.

Investing in Housing, Neighborhoods and Local Business

To keep costs down, LA28 planners will maximize the use of existing venues and supporting infrastructure. But symposium participants identified ample opportunities for investments that ensure that the Games are successful and the city is left better off than before:

  • Housing built for the army of temporary workers who will need to relocate to Los Angeles could then be repurposed to fill a dire need for affordable housing or permanent supportive housing.
  • The Games could be a catalyst for neighborhood improvement projects, including gathering places for watching the events. Community input, along with funding from local governments, local businesses and philanthropy, could lead to thriving and accessible public spaces that reflect the character of neighborhoods.
  • In Los Angeles County, 94% of companies have fewer than 20 employees, but small and mid-size businesses often face challenges in meeting procurement requirements of governments and large businesses. LA28 contracting opportunities that prioritize local, small and diverse businesses could create markets that extend well beyond the mega-event.

Meeting the urgency of hosting the world is a challenge for Los Angeles, symposium participants concluded, but also an opportunity to break through a bureaucracy-as-usual approach and create a more vibrant future for all Angelenos.

UCLA to Lead New Center of Excellence for Heat Resilient Communities The Luskin Center for Innovation, in collaboration with 50 partners, receives a first-of-its-kind federal grant to help guard against climate danger

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By Mara Elana Burstein

We’re not prepared for rising temperatures. Heat poses a growing and inequitable threat to the health, economies and security of communities everywhere, yet heat governance remains underdeveloped, especially in comparison to other climate hazards.

The UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI) wants to change that. Under the leadership of its associate director, V. Kelly Turner, LCI has been awarded a $2.25 million grant to establish a Center of Excellence for Heat Resilient Communities. Funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS), the Center of Excellence will engage and support communities in determining the best strategies for local heat mitigation and management.

“Some communities have begun to plan for heat, but most lack the capacity or resources to engage in comprehensive planning,” said Turner, who leads LCI’s heat equity research and along with colleagues has long called for a coordinated national approach to heat resilience. “With this grant, we can help the federal government establish a robust, actionable and durable plan to support those efforts.”  

Turner’s co-leads for this project are Sara Meerow at Arizona State University and Ladd Keith at the University of Arizona. With more than 50 other partners committed, the grant will enable the creation of an international network of heat scholars and practitioners. One outcome will be a framework to identify and evaluate policies, protocols and lessons for heat resilience that can be applied in the U.S. and internationally. 

Thirty communities and tribal entities will be selected for direct technical assistance and comprehensive educational support during the three-year grant period. By centering equity in its approach, the Center for Excellence will systematically work with and fund historically excluded communities and help meet the Biden Administration’s goals under Justice40. This will broaden the impact and benefits of engagement, heat data and information, and other approaches, like benefit-cost analysis, to inform effective and equitable planning for heat resilience. 

The ultimate goal is to protect public health and well-being from acute and chronic heat dangers through equity-centered, data-informed, whole-of-government approaches to mitigate and manage heat in diverse communities and heat-exposure settings.

Funding for the Center of Excellence for Heat Resilient Communities is provided through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and is part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. This is one of two new National Integrated Heat Health Information System centers of excellence. The complementary Center for Collaborative Heat Monitoring, to be led by the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, N.C., will assist community-serving organizations in conducting local climate and health studies.

“The impacts of extreme heat caused by climate change are an increasing threat to our health, ecosystems and economy,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “Thanks to President Biden’s ambitious climate agenda, this investment will support new NIHHIS Centers of Excellence to help protect historically excluded communities from the dangers of extreme heat, boost climate resilience and increase awareness on best practices to tackle the climate crisis.”

To learn more about how LCI research informs heat equity solutions to improve human well-being and quality of life where we live, work, learn and play, see LCI’s heat equity webpage.

L.A. Mayor Focuses on the Need for Housing Solutions During UCLA Luskin Summit Karen Bass visits campus to join discussions on the value of research about issues like homelessness, climate resilience, governance and equity in transportation

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By Les Dunseith

On April 17, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was the featured speaker as scholars, civic leaders and the philanthropic community came together to discuss policy issues during the sixth annual UCLA Luskin Summit.

What was on her mind? Housing.

Bass, who declared homelessness a state of emergency immediately upon taking office as mayor in December 2022, told the more than 300 people in attendance at the UCLA Luskin Conference Center that her office is now turning more attention to longer-term solutions after initially emphasizing urgency in getting unhoused people off the streets.

“It is not reasonable for somebody [needing shelter] to be able to stay around while we get housing built,” she said of the challenge to provide shelter for people in need amid an ongoing affordable housing crisis.

The mayor’s remarks were delivered during a discussion with Jacqueline Waggoner MA UP ’96, the current chair of the Luskin School’s Board of Advisors. Waggoner, who is the president of the Solutions Division for Enterprise Community Partners, said she was heartened by the mayor’s intense focus on homelessness, given the magnitude of the problem in Los Angeles.

Bass, a former congresswoman who now chairs the Homelessness Task Force for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, said that meeting with mayors around the country presents an opportunity to learn from others, and for other cities in the United States to benefit from what is being done in Southern California. She had announced a new housing initiative based on a program in Atlanta two days before speaking at the Luskin Summit.

“I feel good in terms of what we can do and how we should move forward,” said Bass, who then emphasized, “the biggest question is scale.”

two men in ties sit on stage as one speaks

During an on-stage interview by ABC7’s Josh Haskell, left, the results of the ninth Quality of Life Index were unveiled by UCLA’s Zev Yaroslavsky. Photo by Stan Paul

Concerns over housing affordability was also a key takeaway from the ninth annual Quality of Life Index, which was publicly unveiled in the opening session of the 2024 Luskin Summit. The project at UCLA Luskin is directed by former Los Angeles public official Zev Yaroslavsky, now an adjunct faculty member at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Concerns over the high cost of living pushed the satisfaction of Los Angeles County residents back to its lowest-ever level, according to the annual survey, which received coverage as breaking news by media outlets that included the Los Angeles Times, area radio stations and the local affiliates of all four major U.S. broadcast TV networks.

More than half of respondents, or 59%, cited housing as the most important factor in their rating. During a Q&A moderated by reporter Josh Haskell of ABC7 in Los Angeles, Yaroslavsky pointed out that renters are feeling especially pessimistic about their futures.

“In our survey, we found that 75% of renters do not think they will ever be able to afford to buy a home in a place they’d like to live in Los Angeles County. Think about that — more and more people in our region see the American dream of homeownership slipping away,” Yaroslavsky said.

Yaroslavsky’s remarks were followed by six breakout sessions that examined timely policy issues from the perspective of scholarly research originating at the Luskin School and its affiliated research centers.

Summit attendees heard about studies and policy proposals in climate resilience, governance and equity in transportation. Panels made up of UCLA Luskin scholars and experts from the public, private and nonprofit sectors took on pressing issues affecting Los Angeles and beyond:

  • What strategies can governments adopt now to help communities withstand rising temperatures?
  • How is the Southland voter pool changing in this election year, and how can Los Angeles better provide representation for its 3.8 million people
  • How are government agencies and nonprofits meeting the transportation needs of the region’s most disadvantaged people?

Much of the conversation was guided by research conducted by the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, the Institute of Transportation Studies, the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and the Latino Policy and Politics Institute.

two Black women chat while seated on a stage with microphones in handBoard of Advisors chair Jacqueline Waggoner emceed the discussion with Mayor Karen Bass. Photo by Stan Paul
two Black women chat while seated on a stage with microphones in hand
two Black women chat while seated on a stage with microphones in hand
mayor in green poses with young people
mayor in green poses with young people
mayor in green suite chats with young person as they walk
mayor in green suite chats with young person as they walk
four people chat together inside a conference ballroom
four people chat together inside a conference ballroom
people at tables in large ballroom
people at tables in large ballroom

The session with the mayor was the final session of this year’s Luskin Summit. For about an hour, Bass answered questions and engaged in conversation with Waggoner, a native Angeleno with a longtime connection to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA).

Since Bass took office, Waggoner said she has noticed visible change in the homeless population. In the past, she would see people leave the streets, only to return soon after.

“I haven’t seen those same people in a year, and what I would say to you is that you are on the path to permanent solutions,” Waggoner said to Bass.

“But I’m never satisfied,” replied Bass, a former social worker. She understands that people experiencing homelessness need not just roofs over their heads, but social services.

“I come at it with a bias because my background is in health care, and I just think we need to do much, much more,” Bass said.

She noted that mental health is something that people often talk about in connection to the unhoused population, but treatment for chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and cancer are also important and deserve attention.

“I feel that health needs to be at the center,” Bass said.

Waggoner said that with homelessness spreading “in every neighborhood, people want to do something about it.”

two women seatedAngelly Tovar of Rebel Group, left, and Avital Shavit of LA Metro discuss mobility solutions at a Summit breakout session. Photo by Mary Braswell
two women seated
two women seated
man seated, smiling
man seated, smiling
man pointing to screen
man pointing to screen

Noting UCLA Luskin’s public-private partnerships with organizations like Hilton Foundation, a Summit sponsor, Waggoner asked Bass about the role of businesses and other groups in helping to get people into permanent housing.

“We are a state of unbelievable wealth. We have many, many, many billionaires that live in the city, tons of multi-millionaires who do phenomenal charitable work,” Bass responded. “I feel good that we’ve been able to align the public sector. But now we need the private sector, we need private money … to expedite the building” of more affordable housing.

Relying on public money can be a slow process because of regulations, construction approvals and the need to juggle multiple funding streams.

“A private developer comes in and can get the development going,” Bass explained. “So, we are hoping that we can do a capital campaign. Everybody knows capital campaigns — buildings get built.”

During her discussion with Waggoner and the 25-minute audience Q&A that followed, Bass also talked about the city’s LA4LA plan to partner with private donors and business to purchase existing properties, including major hotels, to develop its system of long-term interim and permanent housing.

Noting the scale of the problem and an audience consisting of scholars, philanthropic leaders and community organizations, Waggoner pointed out that many people will need to play a part for Bass to realize her vision of a housing solution in Los Angeles.

“Everyone needs to have skin in this game,” Bass said.

The annual event is organized by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs under the guidance of its Board of Advisors, and naming benefactors Meyer and Renee Luskin were among those in attendance. The event was supported by gifts from 12 local charitable organizations and businesses, many of which have been sponsors since the first Luskin Summit in 2019. This year’s theme was “Transformative Action.”

Mary Braswell and Stan Paul also contributed to this story. 

—

See additional photos on Flickr:

UCLA Luskin Summit 2024

Watch a recording of the mayor’s discussion with Waggoner and the audience Q&A on our Vimeo channel:

 

 

L.A. County Residents’ Satisfaction With Quality of Life Matches Lowest in Year 9 of Survey High cost of housing is the most important factor impacting the annual Quality of Life Index, particularly among renters

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By Les Dunseith

Concerns over the high cost of living pushed the satisfaction of Los Angeles County residents back to its lowest-ever level, with renters feeling especially pessimistic about their futures, according to an annual UCLA survey.

The Quality of Life Index, or QLI, is a project of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs  that measures county residents’ satisfaction in nine categories. The overall rating fell two points from last year to 53 on a scale from 10 to 100, marking the second time in three years it came in below the survey’s 55 midpoint since the index launched in 2016. That means a majority of respondents are dissatisfied with the overall quality of their lives.

fever chart shows rating change over time

The cost-of-living rating dropped from 41 to 38, the lowest satisfaction score ever observed for any category in the survey. Although all major demographic subgroups rated the cost of living negatively, the lowest scores came from women, 36 (33 from those 50–64 years old) and Latinas, 36 — as well as renters, 35.

Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the study at UCLA, said renters, who make up nearly half of survey respondents, are being disproportionately affected by the economic and inflationary pressures facing the region. More than half, or 59%, cited housing as the most important factor in their rating.

“Housing costs have gone up,” Yaroslavsky said. “And incomes have not gone up anywhere near commensurate with what’s happened to housing.”

While 61% of homeowners feel optimistic about their economic future in Los Angeles County, 51% of renters report being pessimistic. Only 23% of renters think they will be able to buy a home where they would want to live at some point in the future.

pie chart shows only one in four renters expect to buy a home eventually

 

This year’s survey also produced striking results on the issue of homelessness.

“We discovered very little optimism about whether the current programs and efforts to eradicate homelessness will work,” Yaroslavsky said.

More than half, or 60%, of respondents said homelessness in their area has gotten worse over the past year, with only 10% saying it has gotten better. Just 20% are more hopeful than they were last year that the homelessness situation in Los Angeles County will improve.

Respondents were also asked whether they worried about becoming homeless themselves, with the highest levels of anxiety expressed by people living in households earning less than $60,000 annually at 44%, renters 37% and African Americans 33%.

“Despite the best efforts of state and local officials, the public is more negative and less hopeful about solving homelessness,” Yaroslavsky said.

In an election year, do such findings signal possible voter upheaval?

“It feeds an overall sense that things aren’t working well,” said Yaroslavsky, a former elected official. He framed this year’s results in the context of nearly a decade’s worth of research showing positive results for neighborhood quality and racial/ethnic relations, but low marks in categories commonly associated with decisions by public officials.

“A main theme over the last nine years is that Angelenos love the neighborhoods where they live. We appreciate diversity and get along with others better than some people think. And the quality of life for most of us is pretty good,” he said. “But at some fundamental level, people think our governmental institutions are letting them down.”

The QLI showed minor changes from the previous year in most categories, although satisfaction with education fell three points to 48, the second-lowest score behind cost of living. While transportation/traffic jumped eight points in importance from 2023, it remained among the three lowest categories in quality-of-life importance.

Among Angelenos who are employed, 55% are working full time at a workplace away from their home. Of those, 59% of Latinos, 64% of African Americans, 63% of men over age 50 and 63% of Latino men always work away from home.

The last year has seen a modest decline in most ratings for elected officials.

  • Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna is viewed favorably by 34% and unfavorably by 26%. Last year was 37% favorable and 21% unfavorable.
  • Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is viewed favorably by 42% and unfavorably by 32%, a drop from 46% favorable and 23% unfavorable in last year’s QLI.
  • Respondents had a slightly favorable view of the city councils in their cities: 37% favorable and 32% unfavorable. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is viewed more negatively: 27% favorable and 35% unfavorable.

Regarding the environment, 25% of respondents said climate change had a major impact on their quality of life in the last year; 38% saw a minor impact. The 2024 QLI also asked about the availability of air conditioning: 75% of Angelenos have it in their homes but with substantial variation by region, income and race/ethnicity.

  • Some of the differences likely relate to climate patterns: 48% of residents in the ocean-cooled South Bay communities have air conditioning compared to 92% in the hotter San Fernando Valley.
  • Residents most lacking in air conditioning, 40%, are at the lowest end of the income scale (under $30,000 per year), compared to just 11% for those making over $150,000 per year. And 30% of renters do not have air conditioning.

This year’s QLI is based on interviews conducted in English and Spanish with 1,686 county residents from Feb. 22 to March 14. The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus 3%.

Funding for the Quality of Life Index is provided by Meyer and Renee Luskin through the Los Angeles Initiative. The full report is being published April 17 as part of UCLA’s Luskin Summit.

View the report and other information about this year’s study, plus previous Quality of Life Indexes, on the website of the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies.

text with report name and a map of Los Angeles County

 

School Travels to State Capital for Research Briefing and Alumni Gathering Back-to-back events in Sacramento provide networking opportunities and showcase scholarly works

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In mid-February, a contingent of more than 30 people from UCLA Luskin made the trip to northern California in an effort to connect with alumni, government officials and policy experts involved in state government.

The two-day gathering in Sacramento was envisioned as the first of what will become an annual feature of the Luskin’s School’s outreach efforts, pairing an alumni get-together in the state capital with a research-focused briefing for elected officials and their staffs.

The UCLA Luskin Briefing at UC Center Sacramento took place during the time when new bills were being finalized for the next legislative session, and the hope is that the research of UCLA Luskin and its various research centers can put current and future legislative leaders in a better position to make data-informed decisions.

“It was very well attended by elected and appointed officials,” noted Interim Dean Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, who made the effort a priority for this academic year and actively participated in the planning process. “The elected officials I talked to afterward were very appreciative for the event and told me that they hope to see more such events from our School.”

Two briefing sessions were held. A session on water management highlighted research by Adjunct Associate Professor Gregory Pierce MURP ’11 PhD UP ’15, co-executive director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation. A session on affordable housing was led by Associate Professor Michael Lens, associate faculty director of the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies.

The briefing and the Alumni Regional Reception, which took place the evening before, brought together faculty, staff or alumni from all four departments — Public Policy, Social Welfare, Urban Planning and the Undergraduate Program — as well as members of the Luskin School’s Board of Advisors.

A group of about 20 current Master of Public Policy students also made the trip, getting an opportunity to connect directly with alumni whose footsteps they may hope to follow, including Assemblyman Isaac Bryan MPP ’18, a member of the affordable housing panel.

Find out more about the briefing and view the bios of the 12 people who participated as speakers or panelists.

View photos from the alumni reception

Sacramento Alumni Regional Reception 2024

View photos from the research briefing

Sacramento Briefing 2024

 

L.A. Asks How to Equitably Achieve 100% Clean Energy by 2035 — and UCLA Answers Luskin School research centers join cross-campus effort to guide LADWP strategies centered on equity and justice

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By Mara Elana Burstein

In 2021, after the LA100 analysis laid out pathways for the city of Los Angeles to produce 100% renewable electricity, the City Council and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power committed to pursuing the most ambitious — and expensive — scenario: achieving the goal by 2035 at a cost of nearly $40 billion.

But cost is far from the only challenge. Facing a legacy of inequity within the city’s energy system, the LADWP turned to UCLA researchers to develop strategies for pursuing clean energy without perpetuating social, racial and economic injustices.

Five teams convened by the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge answered the call, bringing together more than 20 UCLA faculty and researchers with expertise in engineering, environmental science, law, labor studies, public health and urban policy. Working with researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which offered computing power and technical capacity, these scholars provided a deep local context, as well as behavioral, social and political expertise, to help Los Angeles ensure a more just transition.

The release of their two-year study, the LA100 Equity Strategies report, was announced today at a press conference at LADWP headquarters downtown, where Mayor Karen Bass’ “Powered by Equity” initiative, based on the report’s findings, was also unveiled.

“We have an opportunity to be innovative and bold,” Bass said in a press release. “We have an opportunity to shape our clean energy future in a manner that delivers benefits to community residents and our LADWP customers in the neighborhoods where they live. We’re making a conscious decision to take intentional clean energy actions that are ‘Powered by Equity,’ as recommended by the newly released LA100 Equity Strategies research study.”

Stephanie Pincetl, a co-author of the report and director of the UCLA California Center for Sustainable Communities, welcomed the initiative, which will kick off with a LADWP project to build, operate and maintain a network of electric vehicle charging stations in underserved communities.

“No other utility in the United States has made a commitment to not only 100% renewable but making sure it’s implemented equitably,” said Pincetl, who earned a PhD in urban planning from UCLA in 1985. “This is the power of a municipal utility, a utility owned by and for its customers.”

The UCLA authors of LA100 Equity Strategies found that significant changes will be necessary to prevent the energy system’s injustices from increasing both during and after the transition, particularly for underserved communities of color, which currently bear the brunt of bad air quality, extreme heat and electrical outages. Without mitigation, these communities are projected to pay more for energy and experience fewer benefits over time.

To that end, UCLA’s approach has been justice-centered, providing community-informed, evidence-driven strategies and recommendations on affordability and policy solutions, air quality and public health, green jobs and workforce development, and housing and buildings.

The cost of electricity will rise with the transition to clean energy, with average electricity bills predicted to increase by nearly 80% for households overall and by more than 130% for low-income households by 2035. Addressing those rate hikes has been a key goal for UCLA researchers.

The work of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, supported by the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, provides specific recommendations for robust, long-term structural solutions to improve LADWP customers’ ability to pay their energy bills. These include addressing regulations that constrain rate affordability and continuing to explore and scale up innovative approaches to support affordability for ratepayers.

“Affordability is a key equity concern for all LADWP stakeholders, and protections for lower-income customers must be expanded,” said Gregory Pierce, a report co-author and research director of the Luskin Center for Innovation. “And as exposure to extreme heat increases, universal access to residential cooling is essential.”

The UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge and the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute analyzed aspects of energy affordability for small ethnic-owned businesses. They recommended that the LADWP partner with community-based organizations to better engage with these businesses.

Other projects, led by teams from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment and UCLA California Center for Sustainable Cities, focused on improving air quality, promoting green jobs abd equitable workforce development, and proving energy upgrades to housing and other buildings, many of them in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Achieving the city’s carbon-neutral goal equitably requires intentional, community-informed, bold decisions adapted over time, and UCLA will continue to work with the LADWP and local communities on these efforts.

Importantly, the researchers say, UCLA’s methods, tools, insights and strategies not only support the LADWP’s efforts but can be used other cities seeking a just energy transition.

In addition to Pincetl and Pierce, the UCLA teams were led by Paul Ong, director of the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge; Yifang Zhu, professor of environmental health sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health; Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda, director of North America Integration and Development Center at UCLA; and Abel Valenzuela Jr., interim dean of social sciences and professor at the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.

Read the full story.

Learn more about the Luskin Center for Innovation’s recommendations for how to expand protections for low-income customers.

UC Grant Will Fund EV Research by UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation Team led by a Fielding School professor gets nearly $2 million to pursue an equitable model for electrical vehicle charger placement

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The UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation will be a key contributor to research recently funded through a partnership between the University of California and the state intended to spur real-world solutions relating to climate change in California.

A team from the Center for Innovation, or LCI, will focus on community engagement relating to a project led by Yifang Zhu, professor of environmental health sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, that will look at how efforts to reduce greenhouse gases can better enable residents of disadvantaged communities to adopt electric vehicles more readily. 

A $1.99 million grant under Zhu’s direction will fund the study of EV usage in communities that have historically lacked access to charging stations. The LCI researchers will work with local residents and community-based organizations to identify barriers, improve knowledge and awareness of EVs, and design plans for deploying and installing charging stations in underserved areas. 

To date, the siting of EV chargers has been a top-down process driven by business priorities rather than community needs and preferences. Gregory Pierce, adjunct associate professor of urban planning and co-executive director of LCI, said researchers will partner with three community-based organizations in the Los Angeles area to co-design the first-ever procedurally equitable process for placement of EV chargers. 

“We hope that this project leads to a new community co-designed model for placing electric vehicle charging stations throughout California that can accelerate our transition to a zero-emissions transportation future,” Pierce said. 

The UCLA Luskin-affiliated team will be co-led by Rachel Connolly, project director for air quality and environmental equity research at LCI. The effort will include surveys and a three-part workshop process relating to the siting of EV chargers and future investments in coordination with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and other partners. Connolly, who earned doctorate and master’s degrees in environmental health sciences from UCLA, has been working at LCI since 2017. 

In all, $83.1 million in California Climate Action grants were awarded to a total of 38 projects involving researchers from across the UC system, as well as California State University campuses, private universities and community, industry, tribal and public agencies. The two-year grants are part of $185 million allocated by the state for UC climate initiatives that advance progress toward California’s climate goals.

Read about other UCLA research funded by California Climate Action grants