Affordable housing crisis Los Angeles

Affordable Housing Crisis

by Elijah Morgan 

 What is Civic engagement? 

“Civic engagement means working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes.” (nytimes.com)

“Civic engagement involves developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values, and motivation to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and promoting the quality of life in a community through both political and non-political processes.” (civicengagement.illinoisstate.edu)

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT to me means taking the initiative to make change in your community. Civic engagement  is important because it helps individuals of a community understand problems that are making life difficult. 

Affordable housing is an important issue that affects all Americans today.  It is obvious that housing is getting more and more expensive over time.  Home ownership has become impossible for more and more people. People are getting pushed out of their hometowns in California because wages are too low. My community is affected by outrageous rent. It is unfair that people native to their  communities  are pushed out due to low wages and outrageous housing prices. 

The median income in downtown Los Angeles where I live is $37,900. The average rent in Los Angeles is $2,700 for a 1 bedroom. These staggering statistics reveal the problem Los Angeles residents are facing. Rent is uncontrollably High in all of California. The amount of money people are making isn't enough to comfortably live in California. People are forced to live with roommates or be homeless. Applicants are required to make 2-3 times the rent to be considered to rent a residence. This requirement is just not the norm in today's economy. Statistics show that people are not making three times the rent. In 2022, 75,000 people were experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County. This is due to the lack of affordable housing and unlivable wages. Everyday more people are struggling to pay rent. It seems like nowadays you have to have multiple forms of income or you won't be able to survive. Or you have to move hours out of the city. 

This topic is important to me because when I was 18 I was forced to move out of my parents house.  I am from San Francisco and rent is higher than Los Angeles.  I was forced to figure out how I was going to survive. Thankfully I enrolled in school and I was able to move into dorms on loans and scholarships. Unfortunately I know so many people who didn't want to or didn't have the option to go to college. My peers had to face homelessness due to the incredibly high rent prices. On the other side of it I have peers who aren't able to move out of their parents home anytime soon due to the housing crisis in California. Waiting lists for affordable housing is outrageous and it's taking years for people to be accepted into these properties. 

I was born and raised in San Francisco and I experienced being pushed out of the only city I knew due to gentrification and rising rent prices. The housing crisis forced me and my family to be homeless when I was only 15 years old. Homelessness was traumatizing for me and my little brothers. My mom had trouble finding a place to live because she didn't make three times the rent  in 2015. My mom was able to buy a house in Sacramento but due to inflation and interest rates  she wouldn't be able to buy the same house today. I can only imagine how hard it is for low income families to survive in California today. 

Lauren 64 says, “Affordable housing is important because living wages are too low in California. Big corporate companies have pushed the middle class out of housing making it harder to become homeowners.” 

WORK CITED

1. Affordable Housing – Homeless Initiative. (n.d.). Homeless.lacounty.gov. https://homeless.lacounty.gov/affordable-housing/

2. The Definition of Civic Engagement - New York Times. (n.d.). Archive.nytimes.com. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/ref/college/collegespecial2/coll_aascu_defi.html?pagewanted=print

3. Photos: 2024 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count is underway. (2024, January 25). Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-01-25/photos-2024-greater-los-angeles-homeless-count#:~:text=The%20data%20showed%2075%2C518%20people

4. Average Rent in Los Angeles & Rent Prices by Neighborhood - RENTCafé. (2017). Rentcafe.com. https://www.rentcafe.com/average-rent-market-trends/us/ca/los-angeles/

5. Types of Civic Engagement | Center for Civic Engagement - Illinois State. (n.d.). Civicengagement.illinoisstate.edu. https://civicengagement.illinoisstate.edu/faculty-staff/engagement-types/