The Data Behind a Worsening Black Housing Crisis

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A study by UCLA Luskin’s Center for Neighborhood Knowledge was featured in a Los Angeles Times article about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Black housing crisis. Before the pandemic, Black people faced the greatest housing insecurity across the United States, with the highest unemployment rate and lowest income of any racial group. COVID-19 has exacerbated the crisis, with Black and Latino workers facing the greatest job losses. Experts explain that systemic racism has hindered Black households from accessing higher-paying jobs and building wealth through homeownership. The article discussed the displacement of longtime Black communities in South Los Angeles and cited a study by the Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, directed by research professor Paul Ong. The study showed declining Black population percentages in Leimert Park, Jefferson Park and West Adams compared to a growing white population, and also found that median income growth in those communities outpaced that of the county.

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Lens Argues for Increased Racial Equity in Urban Planning

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Michael Lens, associate professor of urban planning and public policy, was featured in a New York Times article discussing the importance of inclusion and equity in reshaping public spaces. Many cities have rapidly transformed urban spaces in response to the pandemic, including new bike routes and more space for outdoor dining. However, many urban planning experts worry that these projects favor some residents and neighborhoods over others. The people who show up for public meetings designed to encourage community engagement tend to be older, whiter, higher-income and homeowners with the time and motivation to show up. As a result, pandemic infrastructure projects have largely left out poorer residents and racial minorities, many of whom are wary of police violence or community surveillance on city streets. “We need to either reduce the power that the white, high-income areas have, increase the power that communities of color and low-income communities have, or do both,” Lens argued.

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Roy Addresses Structural Inequalities in Scientific Research

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Ananya Roy, professor of urban planning and director of the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy, spoke to Nature about the importance of prioritizing research submissions from vulnerable groups during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal boards and editors are exploring ways to support female researchers and others whose publications and positions are at risk. Roy, an editor of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, explained the journal’s decision to address structural inequality by putting papers from women and early-career researchers at the front of the review queue. “For years, I’ve paid close attention to papers from scholars who are not at elite universities and to those from early-career researchers,” Roy said. Now, she worries about doctoral students who must complete research projects amid the uncertainty of the pandemic. “This is an opportunity for us to think about how we can deepen practices of compassion, care and equity,” she said.

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Monkkonen on COVID-19 and the L.A. Arts Scene

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Paavo Monkkonen, associate professor of urban planning and public policy, spoke to the Los Angeles Times about the impact of gentrification and pandemic on the eclectic arts and music scene in Highland Park. The COVID-19 lockdown has devastated the northeast Los Angeles neighborhood and widened the divide between old-school and upstart artists. “You see a correlation between gentrifiers maintaining their income and lower-income people losing it,” Monkkonen said. SB1410, a pending state bill offering landlords tax breaks for forgiving rent, might help keep tenants of all sorts in place, he said. But real estate speculation and further gentrification remain real possibilities, he said. “There’s a big concern that mom-and-pop landlords will decide they don’t want to deal with tenants who can’t pay, and sell their buildings,” Monkkonen said. “Times of crisis are good times to buy, and a lot of these distressed properties are bought up by private equity.”

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Shah on Domestic Violence During India’s Lockdown

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Public Policy Professor Manisha Shah spoke to Quartz about domestic violence in India during the COVID-19 lockdown. A study co-authored by Shah found a significant increase in domestic violence and cybercrime complaints in May in Indian districts with the strictest lockdown measures relative to districts with the least strict measures. Reports of rape and sexual assault declined as people avoided public spaces and workplaces during the lockdown. “We cannot rule out the possibility of some displacement of rape and sexual assault from public spaces outside homes to rape by family members inside homes,” explained Shah, director of the Global Lab for Research in Action at UCLA Luskin. Marital rape is vastly underreported in India, she said. “Women face a portfolio of danger, and policies such as lockdowns can improve certain types of violence outcomes while exacerbating others,” she said.

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Anheier on German Economic and Social Reform

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“For government, the most important objectives are to reverse two key trends: rising economic inequality and declining social mobility,” said Helmut Anheier, adjunct professor of social welfare, in a recent Project Syndicate interview on German economic and social reform. Anheier, who also holds posts at Hertie School of Governance and Heidelberg University in Germany, argued that policies that could advance these goals include a livable minimum wage, reforms to the system for delivering unemployment and welfare benefits, and massive investments in education and skills training. Anheier, editor-in-chief of the new UC Press publication Global Perspectives, also commented on a number of topics including globalization, philanthropy in the time of COVID-19 and lessons to be learned from Germany’s past. “Germany has come to terms with its history … but it still hasn’t developed a clear vision of a multi-ethnic society – vital to prevent the kind of divisiveness one sees today in the United States and United Kingdom.”

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Umemoto Is Recognized for Multilingual COVID-19 Information

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The Little Tokyo-based newspaper Rafu Shimpo cited Urban Planning Professor Karen Umemoto‘s leadership in making COVID-19 information available in different languages. Umemoto is director of UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center, which launched the COVID-19 Multilingual Resource Hub to make critical information about COVID-19 accessible to immigrant and non-English speaking populations in 40 languages. The website offers basic information about wearing a mask, washing hands and maintaining physical distance with others, as well as guides to protesting during the pandemic and links to resources for reporting hate incidents targeting the Asian community. “The Asian American Studies Center has a legacy of serving the community,” Umemoto said. “When we were told in March that UCLA was shutting down in light of stay-at-home orders, we made a pivot to mobilize the center’s talents and resources to work with fellow faculty in Public Health to create this service to the public.”

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Weisburst Research on School Police, Student Success Cited

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An Economist article discussing the effectiveness of school police officers cited research by Assistant Professor of Public Policy Emily Weisburst. In the 1990s, a federal crime bill included funding for “school resource officers,” leading to the widespread presence of police on the nation’s elementary, middle school and high school campuses. The article cited an ACLU report showing that 14 million students attend schools with a police officer on campus but no counselor, nurse, psychologist or social worker. Still, many teachers call for reform rather than removal of the officers, according to an Education Week survey cited in the article. Weisburst’s research assessed student success in Texas school districts that used federal grants to hire resource officers. She found that they experienced a 2.5% decrease in high school graduation rates and a 4% decrease in college enrollment.

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Leap Calls for Accountability Among Probation Authorities

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Adjunct Professor of Social Welfare Jorja Leap spoke to Witness LA about a lawsuit against Los Angeles County regarding a teenage boy who was allegedly administered estrogen as a behavioral control while in juvenile hall. After a physical examination while in detention, the boy, then 16, was reportedly prescribed estradiol, a form of the female hormone estrogen, to make him less aggressive, all without his parents’ knowledge or permission. The article noted that the case further supports the need for funding the independent Probation Oversight Commission (POC). As a co-author of the L.A. County Probation Governance Report and a proponent of the POC, Leap was disturbed by the implications of the lawsuit. “These troubling developments point to the need for real oversight with power to hold probation — and those from other county agencies who work inside probation’s facilities — fully accountable when they harm those in their care,” she said.

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Covington Predicts Black Exodus Will Continue in California

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Public Policy senior lecturer Kenya Covington was featured in a CalMatters article about the exodus of Black Californians from high-cost coastal cities for other states or more suburban cities. Some Black renters have been disproportionately forced out of cities as costs and evictions have climbed, while others have chosen to relocate in pursuit of homeownership, safety and better schools. The Black population has decreased 45% in Compton, 43% in San Francisco and 40% in Oakland in recent years. In 2018, Covington led a survey in Los Angeles’ Council District 8, which includes Crenshaw, Leimert Park and Baldwin Hills, to better understand the 42% drop in that area’s Black population. She found that 30% of the 250 respondents didn’t expect to be living there in another five years. “We’re probably not going to see that trend slow,” Covington said. “It’s probably going to intensify.”

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