Nearly 800 incarcerated people are among the more than 7,500 personnel helping fight the historic, and destructive, Southern California wildfires.
California's department of corrections says individuals who are part of this program are there voluntarily and are paid between $5.80 and $10.24 per day, with additional pay provided during emergencies and in other circumstances.
The context: This is not a new practice. California has relied onincarcerated firefighters since 1915. And prison labor has been used to respond to emergencies and disasters nationwide for centuries, said Bianca Tylek, executive director of Worth Rises, a criminal justice advocacy organization.
Keep reading... for more details on the history and current practice.
Nearly 800 incarcerated people are among the more than 7,500 personnel helping fight the historic, and destructive, Southern California wildfires.
The five raging wildfires have destroyed homes, businesses and landmarks throughout Los Angeles.
"As of today, 783 Fire Camp firefighters have been working around the clock cutting fire lines and removing fuel from behind structures to slow fire spread, including 88 support staff," California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement to NPR on Thursday.
This is not a new practice. California has relied onincarcerated firefighters since 1915. And prison labor has been used to respond to emergencies and disasters nationwide for centuries, said Bianca Tylek, executive director of Worth Rises, a criminal justice advocacy organization.
To those,like Tylek, opposed to the continued use of incarcerated people as firefighters, the system is seen as exploitative.
California's department of corrections says individuals who are part of this program are there voluntarily and are paid between $5.80 and $10.24 per day, with additional pay provided during emergencies and in other circumstances.
This controversial practice also fills critical personnel gaps, especially as California faces a future with longer and more destructive fire seasons due to climate change. During the first full day of the wildfires, LA area-crews were battling upwards of five large blazes at the same time, which stretched the county's emergency response resources and staff, Anthony Marrone, LA County fire chief, said Wednesday.
Incarcerated firefighters from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation walk in at the Station Fire Incident Command Post in the Lake View Terrace area of Los Angeles in 2009.
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Jae C. Hong
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AP
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'Do they completely choose what they do?'
California is one of more than a dozen states that operates conservation camps, commonly known as fire camps, for incarcerated people to train to fight fires and respond to other disasters.
The program was first established in 1915, but expanded during World War II after forestry staff left to fight in the war. In the interim, incarcerated people were tapped as replacements and 41 camps were established. There are now 35 such camps in California, all of which are minimum-security facilities.
These fire-fighting crews are made up of incarcerated volunteers deemed physically and mentally fit, who have exhibited good behavior and follow the rules, according to CDCR. They must also have eight years or less remaining on their sentence. When they are not fighting fires, they also respond to floods and other disasters and emergencies. Otherwise, the crews do community service work in areas close to their camp, according to the state corrections department.
Tylek, ofWorth Rises, questions how voluntary the assignment are given that California's corrections department, like many prisons across the country, requires people in prison to work.Prison labor programs, generally, have historical ties to the end of the Civil War and the passage of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery "except as a punishment for crime" — an exception that prison rights advocates like Tylek say allows for exploitative labor.
She acknowledged some individuals do want to work for the firefighting program. And there are many who have found a calling in the work.
"But it comes at a pretty steep cost," Tylek said noting that she's heard from people badly injured while doing this work at a very low wage.
A 2018 Time investigation found that incarcerated firefighters are at a higher risk for serious injuries. They also are more than four times as likely to get cuts, bruises or broken bones compared to professional firefighters working the same fires, the report found. They were also more than eight times as likely to face injuries after inhaling smoke, ash and other debris compared with other firefighters, the report said.
California's corrections department said incarcerated people do not face disciplinary action if they choose not to serve their time in a fire camp. They also undergo safety and first-aid training as part of the program.
A firefighter waters down a home after the Eaton Fire burns in Altadena on Thursday.
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Nic Coury
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There have been efforts to stop prison labor
While most incarcerated people receive little to no pay "nationwide, incarcerated workers produce more than $2 billion a year in goods and commodities and over $9 billion a year in services for the maintenance of the prisons where they are warehoused," a 2022 joint report from the ACLU and The University of Chicago's Global Human Rights Clinic found.
Since 2018, the year in which Colorado banned the use of unpaid prison labor, a movement emerged calling on states to change their constitutions to remove the 13th Amendment "exception." An NPR investigation found that even in states that approved this change, prisoners were still being used for low or unpaid labor.
In 2024, California and Nevada brought the question of banning the practice of using prisoners as unpaid labor to voters. Nevada's voters approved the ban while California voters rejected Proposition 6.
Tylek said changing voters' mind on this issue "is an ongoing effort."
The ongoing Southern California wildfires "really illustrates why that effort was so important," she said. As hundreds of "incarcerated people take to the front lines of these wildfires to defend the personhood and property of people around the Los Angeles area and California, I hope that Californians can start to realize their value."
Copyright 2025 NPR
Makenna Sievertson
leads LAist’s unofficial Big Bear bald eagle beat and has been covering Jackie and Shadow for several seasons.
Published February 19, 2026 6:00 AM
Big Bear's famous bald eagles, Jackie and Shadow, in their nest overlooking Big Bear Lake on Wednesday. Environmental organizations are launching a fundraiser to buy nearby land to preserve it from a planned housing project.
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Friends of Big Bear Valley
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YouTube
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Topline:
Environmental organizations are launching a fundraiser to buy land in Big Bear Valley to prevent construction of a planned housing project some say would harm rare plants and wildlife in the area.
Why it matters: Instead, the organizations want the land to be placed under a permanent conservatorship. Officials say “Save Moon Camp” is the most ambitious fundraising effort in the history of Friends of Big Bear Valley.
The backstory: Sandy Steers, the nonprofit’s late executive director, said last fall that Moon Camp would have a “severe detrimental impact” on the community’s plant life and wildlife, including bald eagles and San Bernardino flying squirrels. Steers died last week, and Friends of Big Bear Valley said the fundraiser now is in her honor.
Environmental organizations are launching a fundraiser to buy land in Big Bear Valley to prevent construction of a planned housing project some say would harm rare plants and wildlife in the area.
Instead, the organizations want the land to be placed under a permanent conservatorship. Officials say “Save Moon Camp” is the most ambitious fundraising effort in the history of Friends of Big Bear Valley.
Sandy Steers, the nonprofit’s late executive director, said last fall that Moon Camp would have a “severe detrimental impact” on the community’s plant life and wildlife, including bald eagles and San Bernardino flying squirrels.
Steers died last week, and Friends of Big Bear Valley said the fundraiser is now in her honor.
According to the nonprofit, the project would affect the bald eagles’ ability to raise chicks, and there is a “real possibility” Jackie and Shadow would leave the area altogether.
Jenny Voisard, the organization’s media manager, told LAist it’s a “moon shot to buy Moon Camp,” but it’s the most important thing the group's members and supporters could do for Big Bear Valley.
“And we're doing it for Jackie and Shadow,” she said, “because it will absolutely disrupt and devastate that area.”
The proposed project site can be seen from the nest livestream.
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Friends of Big Bear Valley
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YouTube
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The big picture
Friends of Big Bear Valley said Steers helped negotiate a signed agreement to buy Moon Camp from the property developer, RCK Properties Inc., with the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust. Friends of Big Bear Valley said negotiating the deal was the "most important priority Steers had."
RCK Properties didn’t immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment.
If the groups raise $10 million by July 31, the acres will be placed under a permanent conservatorship.
The eventual goal is to have the land be protected under the U.S. Forest Service. The San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust has helped purchase hundreds of acres that were later added to the San Bernardino National Forest, according to the organization.
“We need everyone to be Jackie and Shadow's hero,” Voisard said, her voice cracking with emotion.
Donations should be made directly to SaveMoonCamp.org. The San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust kicked off the fundraiser with a $50,000 gift, Voisard added.
Voisard said donations of all sizes are welcome. Large gifts can expect special recognition from Friends of Big Bear Valley, she added.
Friends of Big Bear Valley is managing the fundraiser, and if it raises enough, the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust would purchase the land for preservation.
Friends of Big Bear Valley will not receive any money in the effort, Voisard said.
The backstory
Moon Camp’s design in the unincorporated community of Fawnskin was first drafted decades ago, but the project has faced harsh criticism and legal challenges from Friends of Big Bear Valley and other environmental organizations.
Steers has argued Moon Camp would have a “severe detrimental impact” on the community’s plant life and wildlife. The project site is a foraging habitat for Big Bear’s famous feathered couple, their chicks and other bald eagles in the area, she said previously.
“ We're not trying to stop development or anything like that — we're trying to protect habitats,” Steers told LAist last September. “ We want this valley and the environment to maintain its integrity.”
The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the Moon Camp project in July 2020, according to a staff report, but it was challenged in court a month later.
The board voted unanimously again last September to approve parts of the project, with updates meant to address habitat and wildlife issues, according to the staff report.
Steers said before the board’s vote last fall that the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust being able to purchase the land “would be ideal”
“Then the developer gets their money, and nothing has to be destroyed, and the land can be protected,” she said last September.
Sandy Steers, the late executive director of Friends of Big Bear Valley, spoke against the Moon Camp project during the the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors meeting in September 2025.
'Echoes of Gen X' is at the Gabba Gallery through April 11.
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Courtesy Gabba Gallery
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In this edition:
Free museum day, Mardis Gras in Venice, the Galaxy kick off their season, the Bunny Museum welcomes Scanner and more of the best things to do this weekend.
Highlights:
Scanner is a very large (read: 14-feet-tall, 1,100-pound) bunny created by Chinese artist Jessie Zhao that is about to sit, appropriately, outside the Bunny Museum in Altadena. Head to the unwrapping ceremony, and make sure to do the Bunny Bump!
Try new types of coffee paired with pastries, all curated by third-generation roaster Amy Tang. The Muzeo Museum and Cultural Center is hosting this Lunar New Year–inspired coffee salon that celebrates creativity, renewal and community.
To celebrate the opening of LACMA’s exhibition SUEÑO PERRO: A Film Installation by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the museum will host the Oscar-winning director for a screening of his directorial debut, Amores Perros on its 25th anniversary in a new 4K restoration. Museum director Michael Govan will join for the Q&A.
Be still, my Gen X, former SF-resident and regular-at-the-Fillmore heart. This sprawling show of band posters from the legendary Fillmore club is a trip down musical memory lane. Expect an excellent soundtrack at the opening event, or catch the show any time from now through April 11.
There’s no excuse not to head out to one of the city’s many excellent museums this weekend, as nearly 30 of them are free for all on Sunday. Some do require a reservation, so get clicking and plan your day here. If you’d rather be outside, the L.A. Bakery Walk is way overbooked, but who says you can’t plot your own epic doughnut walk across L.A.?
And get ready for summer — the Hollywood Bowl just announced its full season, which includes a special farewell to L.A. Phil Conductor Gustavo Dudamel, the Blue Note Jazz Fest lineup and much more.
A little sooner on the calendar (i.e., this weekend), Licorice Pizza has your listings, including a free Nikka Costa show in West Hollywood, Lady Gaga’s return to the Forum on Sunday, plus Lizzo settles in for her residency at the Blue Note. On Saturday, you can see Los Tigres del Norte at the Intuit Dome, the Pains of Being Pure At Heart at the Echoplex, Christopher Owens of Girls at Sid the Cat and Lights at the El Rey Theatre (she’s also playing Sunday). And the future is coming on, as Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s cartoon supergroup Gorillaz take over the Hollywood Palladium to play their much-anticipated ninth album, The Mountain, in its entirety on Sunday.
If you’re not familiar with Scanner, it's a very large (read: 14-feet-tall, 1,100-pound) bunny created by Chinese artist Jessie Zhao. And it's about to sit, appropriately, outside the Bunny Museum in Altadena. Monrovia’s Walter Zucco donated Scanner after last year’s wildfires burned the museum to the ground, and it's sure to bring joy to the community. You can say you were there at the beginning if you head to the unwrapping ceremony! Make sure to do the Bunny Bump!
LGBTQ+ Figure Skaters
Friday, February 20 Junior High Los Angeles 603 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Courtesy Junior High Los Angeles
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While Heated Rivalry has put all eyes on ice hockey’s relationship with the LGBTQ+ community, figure skating has long been seen as a haven for out athletes. But that hasn’t exactly been the case. Reporters Ari Saperstein and Chris Schleicher — who's also a former USA national team skater — will talk about their work covering the hidden history of queerness in figure skating. Perfect timing if you’re watching the Olympics and keeping up with all the skating drama on and off the ice!
California Pen Show
Thursday through Sunday, February 19-22 Torrance Marriott Redondo Beach 3635 Fashion Way, Torrance COST: FROM $20; MORE INFO
Fear not: The internet and computers have not taken away the mighty pen! The California Pen Show is happening this weekend, and it includes classes for folks new to fountain pens, intros to journaling, tutorials on advanced calligraphy techniques and more. Spill some ink.
Amores Perros with Alejandro Innaritu
Sunday, February 22 LACMA / Academy Museum Theater 6067 Wilshire Blvd., Miracle Mile COST: $10, SOLD OUT BUT ADDITIONAL TICKETS MAY BE RELEASED AT 9 A.M. DAY-OF; MORE INFO
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Courtesy Lionsgate
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To celebrate the opening of LACMA’s exhibition SUEÑO PERRO: A Film Installation by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the museum will host the Oscar-winning director for a screening of his directorial debut, Amores Perros, on its 25th anniversary in a new 4K restoration. Museum director Michael Govan will join for the Q&A.
Highly Favored: Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Black History Month Celebration
Saturday, February 21, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The Village at Ed Gould Plaza 1125 N. McCadden Place, Hollywood COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Courtesy Los Angeles LGBT Center
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Celebrate Black History Month with this free, joy-filled dance party on the plaza at Hollywood’s LGBT Center. Centered on queer Black joy, the party honors Pose actress Hailie Sahar and filmmaker Elegance Bratton (Move Ya Body: The Birth of House).
LA Galaxy home opener
Sunday, February 22, 4 p.m. Dignity Health Sports Park 18400 Avalon Blvd., Carson COST: VARIES; MORE INFO
Joseph Paintsil dribbles the ball during a game between Chicago Fire FC and Los Angeles Galaxy.
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Liza Morales
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ISI Photos via Getty Images
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The World Cup is still a few months away, but the 2026 MLS season kicks off with the L.A. Galaxy’s home opener against NYCFC. The rivals will have a few familiar faces on either side, including L.A. Galaxy legend Todd Dunivant, who is now NYCFC’s Sporting Director, and NYCFC homegrown midfielder Justin Haak, who has joined the Galaxy.
Echoes of Gen X: The Art of The Fillmore (1980s–2000s)
Through April 11, opening night Saturday, February 21, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Gabba Gallery 235 S. Broadway, Downtown L.A. COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Courtesy Gabba Gallery
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Be still, my Gen X, former SF-resident and regular-at-the-Fillmore heart. I have a small collection of these myself, but this sprawling show of band posters from the legendary Fillmore club is a trip down musical memory lane. Expect an excellent soundtrack at the opening event, or catch the show any time from now through April 11.
Venice Mardi Gras parade
Sunday, February 22 The Waterfront Venice Beach COST: FREE; MORE INFO
Laissez les bons temps rouler at the annual Venice Mardi Gras Parade! Don your weirdest, most colorful attire, grab some beads, then head to the boardwalk for gumbo, live music and a party atmosphere!
Common Grounds: Exploring Coffee Through Art & Flavor
Saturday, February 21, 10:30 a.m. Muzeo Museum and Cultural Center 241 S. Anaheim Blvd., Anaheim COST: $28; MORE INFO
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Muzeo x Owlvericks
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Try new types of coffee paired with pastries, all curated by third-generation roaster Amy Tang. The Muzeo Museum is hosting this Lunar New Year–inspired coffee salon that celebrates creativity, renewal and community.
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Diane Warren attends The Hollywood Reporter's Nominees Night at Chateau Marmont on Feb. 10 in Los Angeles.
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Leon Bennett
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Getty Images
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Topline:
Legendary songwriter Diane Warren has been nominated 17 times for the Academy Award for best original song. Her latest nomination is for the song "Dear Me," which — in a meta turn of events — Warren wrote for the documentary "Diane Warren: Relentless," about her life. In addition to her love of music, the illuminating documentary also explores Warren's love of animals.
The backstory: Warren is such a big animal lover that she started a private animal sanctuary called Mousebutt Rescue Ranch, named after her late, beloved cat Mouse and parrot Buttwings. Warren also is vegan and grew up in L.A. (Van Nuys) so she knows her local vegan restaurants.
Read on ... for Warren's take on the best vegan Vietnamese food and pizza in the city.
You probably already knew that Diane Warren — the creative mind behind hit songs like “If I Could Turn Back Time” (Cher) and “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” (Aerosmith) — is one of the most successful songwriters of all time.
She’s an inductee into the Songwriting Hall of Fame, an honorary Oscar recipient and a Grammy and Emmy winner. According to the 2025 documentary, Diane Warren: Relentless — for which she’s nominated for another best original song Oscar (with “Dear Me,” her nominations now total 17) — she’s written songs for more than 450 recording artists, and her music catalog is valued at over a half-billion dollars.
The illuminating documentary about Warren’s life, love of music and approach to songwriting also explores her lesser known love: animals — from her own pets (like her late cat Mouse and parrot Buttwings) to the animals that live at her private sanctuary (fittingly named Mousebutt Rescue Ranch) in Malibu.
Warren also is vegan, or as she puts it, “pretty much 99.9% vegan,” to account for the possibility of something like an egg ending up in a pasta dish without her knowledge.
When Warren spoke with LAist host Julia Paskin about her latest Oscar nomination (as her birds Chicken and Charlie occasionally chirped from the other room), she also shared her favorite vegan restaurants in L.A.
Follow Your Heart
This Canoga Park cafe and market dates back to 1970 and Warren, who grew up in nearby Van Nuys, counts it as one of her favorite vegan restaurants.
Location: 8274 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood Hours: 4 to 10 p.m., Monday; noon to 10 p.m., Tuesday through Friday; 11 a.m. to 10 or 11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Vinh Loi Tofu
Vinh Loi in Reseda, which specializes in Southeast Asian cuisine, Warren says is really good for takeout. They also have a location in Cerritos.
Warren also recommends Crossroads Kitchen (“I was there last night”), but she sometimes regrets her choices when she goes: “I eat way too much fried stuff.”
Location: 8284 Melrose Ave., Beverly Grove Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday; open until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 9 p.m. Sunday
Julie Goes Green
“If you like pizza,” Warren says, Julie Goes Green has “the best vegan pizza in the city.”
Brianna Lee
wrote Building Your Block, a newsletter about understanding the conversations L.A. is having about housing development.
Published February 19, 2026 5:00 AM
Aerial view of homes in Los Angeles.
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MattGush / Getty Images
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iStockphoto
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Topline:
Southern California needs to plan for 1.3 million new homes by 2029 to keep up with demand in our region and hit state-mandated targets. All the cities within L.A. County are responsible for 812,000in total, with 450,000 of those units coming from the city of L.A.
So how are we doing? In 2024, L.A. County built around 28,000 units, far below the average of 101,000 a year needed to meet that bigger goal. The numbers are even lower for 2023, 2022 and 2021.
What's preventing us from building more? In short, we made things difficult with restrictive zoning and bureaucratic red tape on permitting and approvals. Building anything new is also expensive, which affects not just how much we build, but what type of housing we're incentivizing. And then there are the debates — even though most Angelenos agree we need to build more, the real battles are over what kind of housing and where to put it.
Read on … to learn more about why it’s so hard to build in L.A.
This piece is adapted from the first issue of Building Your Block, a seven-issue newsletter course that unpacks the obstacles to housing development in L.A. and what you can do to make things better. Sign up for the whole series here.
This shortage, they say, is the main driver of the exorbitant rents and housing prices across Southern California. But no single policy or elected official is to blame — today’s challenges are the result of decades of building too little housing to keep up with population growth. Here are some numbers to consider: over a 40-year period since the 1970s, California added only 325 new housing units for every 1,000 people added to our population. It’s a similar story for the country at large.
That’s why the state government set ambitious housing production goals for counties across California. The state housing department establishes new goals every eight years for how much new housing to produce. For the period from 2021 to 2029, California’s overall goal is 2.5 million new homes— more than double the target for the previous cycle.
Southern California needs to plan for 1.3 million new homes by 2029 to keep up with demand in our region and hit the state’s targets. All the cities within L.A. County are responsible for 812,000in total, with 450,000 of those units coming from the city of L.A.
L.A. County is nowhere near meeting these numbers.
Together the 88 cities in L.A. County are supposed to add about 101,500 units per year to stay on track with their goals. In 2024, they built 28,453.
Why progress is so slow: We made it difficult to build
In Southern California, we built our cities out, not up. There are a lot of historical reasons for why our region ended up spread out and decentralized. Jobs opportunities grew in different areas, instead of a single urban core, and during the housing booms of the late 19th century and early 20th century, there was room to sprawl. Suburbs and single-family homes were idealized and developed in large numbers. Discriminatory housing practices, such as racially restrictive covenants, furthered segregation. Car culture spawned freeways and parking lots. This all means that today, there’s not much empty land left to build on.
Another factor: local zoning rules. Because there isn’t a lot of empty land left, adding housing density is key — for example replacing a five-unit apartment building with a 20-unit one. But our rules restrict where we can densify housing.
Until recently in the city of L.A., for example, it wasn't even legal to build the housing required to reach state-mandated goals. When the city received its target of building 450,000 new homes, its regulations only allowed for about half of that to be built. The city had to change its rules about what housing can be built and where.
Building anything new takes a long time and is really expensive
Even if city ordinances allowed us to build more housing, a labyrinth of red tape slows down the approval process, including getting departments to review the plans and waiting for utilities to get connected.
And when housing proposals get political, as they so often do, the process gets bogged down even more with public hearings, lawsuits, City Council discussions and so on.
There’s also the cost of building housing. Any one of myriad factors can make prices jump: supply chain disruptions, the scarcity of materials, labor shortages, inflation and more.
Plus, since most of the land in L.A. is already built on, to build something new you usually have to tear down existing structures first. That makes it — you guessed it! — more expensive.
These factors don’t just affect the rate at which we’re getting new housing, but also the kind of housing we end up getting.
We can’t get out of this crisis without building more housing
Plenty of other factors exacerbate the crisis we’re seeing today: Corporations or foreign investors buying up housing. The proliferation of short-term rentals like Airbnb. Gaps in rent control or other tenant protections. Empty lots or buildings that aren’t utilized.
But housing experts agree: we still need to build. And even if building new housing can’t solve the crisis alone, we also can’t solve the crisis without it.
Those state housing production goals we mentioned? There are consequences if cities don’t make a meaningful effort to cooperate. They could lose access to affordable housing funds, get sued, and get fined as much as $600,000 a month. The state could also take over decisions about what buildings get approved, which means L.A. residents would have less influence on new housing in their communities.
The big questions: What kinds of housing and where?
Surveysshowthat a majority of Angelenos support building new housing.
But where should it get built?
And what kind of housing should it be? Subsidized apartments for low-income residents? Permanent supportive housing for formerly unhoused people? High-rises? Duplexes? All of the above and everything in between? What should be preserved, and how do we alleviate our housing shortage without worsening gentrification?
These are the questions that underlie most local housing battles today — and the answers we choose will shape our neighborhoods for years to come.
Weighing in on L.A.’s housing future starts with figuring out what kind of housing you want to support and where you think it should go, then figuring out what stands in the way of that. For more information to help you do that, sign up for the Building Your Block newsletter course here.
