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Quality of Life Index Sheds Light on L.A.’s Housing Burden

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News media across Southern California covered the 2024 UCLA Quality of Life Index, an annual survey that this year found deep dissatisfaction with many aspects of life in Los Angeles County. “It’s getting harder and harder to make ends meet in L.A.,” survey director Zev Yaroslavsky told ABC7’s Josh Haskell. “This is the lowest rating we’ve ever had in the nine years we’ve been doing this survey.” A Los Angeles Times article focused on the nearly 4 in 10 renters in the county who have worried about losing their homes and becoming homeless in the last few years. Yaroslavsky also spoke to Spectrum News 1 about flagging confidence in government efforts to address the region’s homelessness crisis. “We discovered very little optimism about whether the current programs and efforts to eradicate homelessness will work,” he said. Other news outlets covering the Quality of Life Index include KCAL, KTLA, FOX 11 News, Good Day LA, KNX, La Opinión and City News Service.

 

Lens on More Renters as Elected Officials in L.A.

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Michael Lens, associate professor of urban planning and public policy, was interviewed by NPR about a shifting trend in the demographics of elected officials in Los Angeles, where more are identifying as renters as opposed to homeowners. Residents of Los Angeles rank housing affordability as one of their biggest concerns, with 30% of renters spending over 50% of their income on rent. As more renters are elected to office, they may do a better job of representing the voices of fellow renters who have gone unheard for years. Lens explained that attempts to diversify politics in Los Angeles have in the past focused on race, gender and sexuality. The renter demographic has not been represented until recent elections. “It does, I think, matter to have representation along that axis,” Lens said. “It’s a pretty fundamental part of who we are and how we live in a city.”

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