David Wagner
covers housing in Southern California, a place where the lack of affordable housing contributes to homelessness.
Published July 25, 2024 5:00 AM
A for-sale sign hangs outside a $1.6 million house on L.A.’s Westside.
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David Wagner
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Topline:
Almost three-quarters of L.A.’s residential land is zoned for single-family homes. And city officials have chosen to leave those neighborhoods largely untouched in their plans to meet ambitious state housing goals.
What’s happening now: L.A.’s Planning Department will hold a meeting to gather public feedback on a slate of proposals to incentivize new housing and increase zoning capacity by more than 250,000 homes. Those plans currently exclude single-family neighborhoods. Instead, new housing is being channeled into already dense, renter-heavy districts.
The feedback so far: Those in favor of preserving L.A.’s single-family neighborhoods say they support this strategy. Affordable housing developers, homeless service providers and tenant organizers see it differently. They argue that the city is continuing to let wealthy neighborhoods off the hook when it comes to doing their share in accepting new housing.
Read more… to find out how these decisions could affect the neighborhood you live in, and how you can get involved in the process.
Everywhere you look, there are signs of the housing crisis gripping Los Angeles. Young families are fleeing the city. Eviction filings are way up. Hardly anyone can afford to buy a home.
But when you take a closer look at most L.A. neighborhoods, housing advocates say you’ll find little in the way of change to address this crisis. Palm tree-lined streets with rows of detached houses appear pretty similar to how they looked decades ago.
That’s because almost three-quarters of the city’s residential land is zoned for single-family homes. And L.A. leaders have chosen to leave those neighborhoods largely untouched in their efforts to create more housing.
“It really does limit where we can build,” said Tara Barauskas, executive director at Community Corporation of Santa Monica, a nonprofit that focuses on developing affordable housing in higher-income neighborhoods on L.A.’s Westside.
“If there's this policy emphasis on really trying to make serious change for building more affordable housing, but these big blanket exclusions are still in place, it's a contradiction,” Barauskas said. “We're not going to be able to make the big shift we need.”
What’s happening now
On Thursday, L.A.’s Planning Department will hold a meeting to gather public feedback on a slate of proposals to significantly boost housing production in order to meet a state-mandated goal of planning for nearly 457,000 new homes by 2029.
The city’s current zoning can’t accommodate that much growth. So officials have outlined plans to increase capacity by more than 250,000 homes. Those plans exclude single-family zones. Instead, new housing is being channeled into already dense, renter-heavy districts.
A now-leasing sign hangs outside an apartment complex in L.A.’s Palms neighborhood.
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David Wagner
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Those in favor of preserving L.A.’s single-family neighborhoods say they support that strategy.
“I do think the city has taken a really good approach,” said Cindy Chvatal-Keane, co-founder of the neighborhood preservation advocacy group United Neighbors. “There are plenty of places to put affordable housing without disrupting single-family.”
Affordable housing developers, homeless service providers and tenant organizers see it differently. They argue that the city is continuing to let wealthy neighborhoods off the hook when it comes to doing their share in accepting new housing.
How we got here
It has become a familiar debate in Los Angeles. Last year, Mayor Karen Bass decided to carve out single-family neighborhoods from her signature program to streamline affordable housing approvals. Before that, city council members voted to oppose state legislation allowing additional units on single-family lots.
Renter households outnumber homeowner households in the city of L.A. nearly two-to-one. But housing policy analysts say homeowners tend to have more political capital, vote more consistently and put up more organized opposition to change.
“The city does have a lot of very wealthy people — people who are almost exclusively single-family homeowners,” said Shane Philips with the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. “Those people have disproportionate influence on policy making, and I think that especially applies to land use.”
An American flag waves in the wind outside a single-family home on L.A.’s Westside.
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Proponents for more housing say zoning patterns help explain why so many L.A. apartments are overcrowded, why more than half of local tenants are paying rents considered unaffordable by federal standards, and why renters looking for a new place to live are finding so few options.
“We're all aware that there is a need for housing, because every time we step out we see a homeless person on the sidewalk,” said Diana Corrales, who was born and raised in L.A. and recently moved back in with her mother.
Corrales said she lost income during the COVID-19 pandemic and could no longer afford the one-bedroom Ladera Heights apartment where she was living with her son. When she started hunting for another place to rent, she realized the options were beyond her budget.
“Everyone's scared of change, but we understand that there's a need for housing,” Corrales said. “Not just for us, but for everyone of all income levels, all walks of life.”
What’s in the plan
According to officials with the L.A. Planning Department, the city will be able to meet its ambitious state goals by focusing on areas already zoned for dense housing. They say L.A. can get there by incentivizing development in those neighborhoods. The proposed incentives would let developers increase the density of their projects and remove certain parking requirements, as long as they reserve some apartments for low-income renters.
The department did not make an official available for an interview, but told LAist in an emailed statement that their approach “promotes housing near jobs and transit, along major corridors, and away from environmentally hazardous and sensitive areas such as fire zones and sea level rise areas.”
This strategy aligns with ongoing efforts to update community plans across the city, which have so far sought to locate lots of new housing in dense neighborhoods like Hollywood and downtown L.A.
Officials say their plans also include new tenant protections. Renters currently living in rent-controlled apartments would have the right to move into new developments if their housing is demolished to make way for a larger building, officials say. But tenant advocates worry low-income renters could still struggle to make the transition and continue living in L.A.
City planners also intend to make it easier for developers to convert old commercial buildings — like deserted malls and empty offices — into housing through adaptive reuse.
None of these plans include allowing new apartment buildings on the 72% of residential land in the city reserved for single-family homes, according to the planning department. A UC Berkeley study estimated these zones make up a slightly higher percentage of the city’s residential land, 74% to be precise.
A map created by UC Berkeley researchers shows the L.A. neighborhoods zoned for single-family homes, highlighted in pink.
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Courtesy UC Berkeley Othering and Belonging Institute
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Many of these protected neighborhoods are in wealthy areas that remain largely segregated due to historic policies such as redlining, racial covenants and exclusionary zoning, a fact that the planning department has acknowledged.
Planning officials had originally considered adding new density to these areas. Then last October, the department said they would exclude single-family zones following public feedback.
Why you should care
For anyone not already steeped in local land use debates, topics like zoning, state housing goals and developer incentives may lead to snooze-inducing boredom.
But these policies profoundly shape L.A. neighborhoods. They help explain why Koreatown is bustling with younger, lower-income renters from many ethnic backgrounds while nearby Hancock Park is occupied by older, wealthier and whiter homeowners.
Similar dynamics are at play in Palms, a Westside neighborhood full of multifamily apartment buildings, and adjacent Rancho Park, a single-family area with a quiet, suburban feel. While walking through these neighborhoods, Mahdi Manji with the Inner City Law Center told LAist it makes sense to build more housing in both.
“The Westside is an area of massive growth,” Manji said, pointing to the UCLA campus a few miles north and the nearby tech employment hub of Silicon Beach. “At the same time, we are only seeing development in those very small areas that are already doing multifamily.”
Mahdi Manji, director of public policy for the Inner City Law Center, stands at an intersection in L.A.’s Palms neighborhood.
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Listen
0:56
Checking out Palms with Mahdi Manji
A tale of two neighborhoods
Under the city’s current plans, Manji said, long-term tenants in Palms could see their rent-controlled dingbat apartments torn down to make way for larger, modern complexes. But developers couldn’t buy a Rancho Park homeowner’s property to create a three-story apartment building within walking distance of the Metro E Line.
Standing near a modest Rancho Park house currently on the market for $1.6 million, Manji said, “We're not saying we should be building a skyscraper here. But it might make sense to have a 10-unit building… It's about who gets to live in a neighborhood, who has the opportunity, who has a choice to live where.”
Many existing residents strongly oppose such ideas. Barbara Broide — planning and land use chair of the Westside Neighborhood Council, which represents an area that encompasses Rancho Park — said apartment buildings don’t belong near single-family homes.
“I don’t think blanket up-zoning helps Los Angeles,” Broide said. “The opportunity to have a home and a yard and have a neighborhood where you know your neighbors — which is something we work very hard for in neighborhood councils and homeowner groups — is important.”
Many homeowners argue they’ve already accepted a lot of change. Under Senate Bill 9, which took effect in 2022, single-family homeowners can split their lots and create duplexes. Last year, the state legislature passed Senate Bill 4, a law allowing churches to build affordable housing on their own land — even in single-family zones.
Next to a new apartment complex, “Palms” is written on a utility box in the Westside neighborhood bearing that name.
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What happens next
No decisions will be made during Thursday’s feedback session. Planning department officials say they’ll listen to public input, incorporate the feedback and then send refined proposals to the Planning Commission in late September.
Finally, the plans will need to go before the city council for a vote. In order to comply with state law, the city must finalize its rezoning plans by February 2025.
Homeless service providers are among those eager to speak during Thursday’s meeting. Many hope the planning department will reverse course on excluding single-family zones.
“We can get people off the streets,” said Katie Hill, deputy director of South L.A.-based service provider HOPICS. “What we have not addressed is what happens to them after that. And that really just comes down to: do we have housing that people can afford? And the answer is no — nowhere near enough.”
Aaron Schrank
has been on the ground, reporting on homelessness and other issues in L.A. for more than a decade.
Published April 2, 2026 4:23 PM
Supervisor Holly Mitchell, L.A. County Department of Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer, actor Danny Trejo and others gathered at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Wilmington.
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Aaron Schrank
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Topline:
A new private foundation called The Fund for Advancing Public Health LA launched Thursday, aiming to raise $2 million to shore up county health services this year. It comes after the Department of Public Health closed seven clinics following $50 million in funding cuts since early 2025.
Who's behind it: The foundation's board includes Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, the CEOs of Blue Shield of California Foundation and LA Care Health Plan, actors Sean Penn and Danny Trejo and more. Board member Saree Kayne of the R&S Kayne Foundation pledged $150,000 at the launch. Ferrer acknowledged it's "a hard day" when a public agency has to turn to private donors to fund basic services.
Deeper cuts ahead: The federal "Big Beautiful Bill" slashes Medi-Cal funding, and the department anticipates losing up to $300 million over the next three years. Federal dollars account for nearly half the public health budget.
Some government funding streams for L.A. County’s public health system are drying up, and officials are turning to private philanthropy to fill the gap.
A new privately funded foundation launched Thursday to strengthen public health services after $50 million in federal, state and local funding cuts to the county’s Department of Public Health since early last year.
“It is really a hard day for our community when we have to ask for private donations to fund a public good, but unfortunately, we've lost too much money to not take this important step,” said Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.
In February, the county’s Public Health Department closed seven clinics, with six remaining open. About half of the patients seen in those clinics are uninsured, according to county officials. The department also cut hundreds of staff positions.
She said the fund will help the county maintain its basic public health infrastructure, including disease prevention, health promotion, environmental health, and emergency response efforts.
Other board members include several health insurance executives, as well as actors Sean Penn and Danny Trejo. Board member Saree Kayne of the R&S Kayne Foundation pledged $150,000 to the fund Thursday. Kayne said she hopes the donation encourages others to give.
The foundation aims to raise $2 million this year.
More cuts expected
L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell said it’s crucial to have an alternative funding stream to protect services for the county's most vulnerable residents.
“We are saving public health,” Mitchell said. “This fund represents a new approach, one that brings together government philanthropy in the private sector to invest in community-based solutions, protect vulnerable populations, and strengthen our public health infrastructure.”
Officials say more public health cuts are coming, through the federal budget law known as the "Big Beautiful Bill," which slashes funding for Medi-Cal.
The county Department of Public Health anticipates losing up to $300 million in revenue over the next three years because of the federal budget bill and other potential funding freezes. Federal funding accounts for almost 50% of the public health budget, according to county officials.
Mitchell also led an effort to put a half-percent county sales tax increase to fund public health on the June ballot.
If approved by voters, that proposal, known as Measure ER, is expected to raise about $1 billion a year for county safety net health services, including about $100 million for the public health department.
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
is an arts and general assignment reporter on LAist's Explore LA team.
Published April 2, 2026 4:20 PM
Water infrastructure such as pipes that feed water to drinking fountains and toilets at the Rose Bowl Stadium are getting an infusion of $1 million for fixes.
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Topline:
Rep. Laura Friedman today announced that she secured $1 million for improvements to the water infrastructure at the aging Rose Bowl Stadium as it prepares for a global starring role in the LA28 Olympics.
Why it matters: The pipes may be working fine — for now — but the fear of backed-up toilets as the world watches is an ongoing worry at the venue.
Why now: Public officials have been pushing for spending to improve Olympic venues and surrounding areas as L.A. and other municipalities roll out the red carpet for the world to attend the Olympics. But they’ve hit road bumps and detours.
The backstory: The Rose Bowl is 103 years old and public officials have committed to spending $200 million to upgrade the Pasadena venue over the next two decades.
The Rose Bowl in Pasadena may be a centenarian, but it’s holding up pretty well as it continues to host events on its way to a starring role in the LA28 Olympics.
But before it can host the soccer final, it needs fixes, especially to the infrastructure serving the bathrooms and drinking fountains. Fears of a toilet backup while in the world’s spotlight led Rep. Laura Friedman to seek federal funds for upgrades. On Thursday she announced she secured just over $1 million.
“Two years from now, athletes around the world are going to compete for gold right where we are standing. This is not the time to find out whether or not these pipes are up to the task,” Friedman said.
The planned work, she added, will lead to improved water flow capacity and water drainage, eliminating the risk of backups and emergency maintenance.
The funds came from the House of Representatives Interior and Environment subcommittee. The fixes, an official said, will be completed by the LA28 Olympics.
The funds, however, are a drop in the bucket when it comes to what’s needed to make needed improvements to the Pasadena venue.
Officials, including (left to right) Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation President Dedan Brozino, Deputy Fire Chief of the City of Pasadena Tim Sell, Congresswoman Laura Friedman, and Rose Bowl Stadium CEO Jens Weiden announced infrastructure funding for the 103-year old Rose Bowl.
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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/LAist
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“Over the next 20 years there's about $200 million that we need to put in and that's everything from updating light fixtures to updating gas, water, wastewater lines, etc.,” said Dedan Brozino, president of the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation, the nonprofit that supports the Rose Bowl stadium's preservation and enhancement.
Getting venues ready will be expensive
The money is a much-needed win at a time when elected officials in city, county, state and federal offices have been struggling to find the funds to get L.A.-area venues ready for the global Olympic stage in two years.
The entrance to a men's bathroom at the Rose Bowl.
Additionally, to save money, LA28 organizers moved Olympic diving to the Rose Bowl complex last year because it has two Olympic-sized pools, while the Exposition Park complex doesn't and would need expensive upgrades.
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Kevin Tidmarsh
is a producer for LAist, covering news and culture. He’s been an audio/web journalist for about a decade.
Published April 2, 2026 3:39 PM
This Cape vulture chick hatched March 14 at the L.A. Zoo.
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Courtesy Misha Body/LA Zoo
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Topline:
The zoo said it’s the first major breeding success in its Cape vulture habitat, which opened up last year. The chick now joins the zoo’s committee — that’s the name for a group of vultures.
About the chick: The chick hatched on March 14. The zoo opened its Cape vulture enclosure in February 2025 after years of planning to encourage the birds to roost and nest, welcoming a new breeding pair that year. When it grows to be an adult, it’ll have a wingspan of eight and a half feet.
About the enclosure: The L.A. Zoo said it spent years developing the vulture habitat, which was designed to mimic the vultures’ natural environment in South Africa. Dominick Dorsa II, the zoo’s director of animal care, said in a statement the successful hatching is “a testament to the design and construction” of the habitat.
How to see the chick: You can’t for the time being. Zoo officials are keeping it away from visitors until the chick matures, though you can still see adult Cape vultures at the zoo’s enclosure.
Though visitors will have to wait until the chick matures to see it in the enclosure, you can still take in the impressive eight and a half foot wingspan of the adult Cape vultures.
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Courtesy Jamie Pham/L.A. Zoo
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What zoo officials are saying: “Welcoming a Cape vulture chick is a thrilling moment for our team and a beacon of hope for African vultures,” the L.A. Zoo’s curator of birds Rose Legato said in a statement. “Vultures are one of nature's most misunderstood marvels, and I cannot wait for our guests to eventually watch this chick grow and learn just how vital they are to our ecosystems.”
About the species: Cape vultures are listed as a vulnerable species due to human activities and encroachment. According to the L.A. Zoo, African vultures are more closely related to eagles and hawks than vultures native to the Americas, like the California condors that just hatched last year at the L.A. Zoo.
Topline:
The Los Angeles Zoo said it’s the first major breeding success in its Cape vulture habitat, which opened up last year. The chick now joins the zoo’s committee — that’s the name for a group of vultures.
About the chick: The chick hatched March 14. The zoo opened its Cape vulture enclosure in February 2025 after years of planning to encourage the birds to roost and nest, welcoming a new breeding pair that year. When it grows to be an adult, it’ll have a wingspan of 8 1/2 feet.
About the enclosure: The L.A. Zoo said it spent years developing the vulture habitat, which was designed to mimic the vultures’ natural environment in South Africa and nearby countries. Dominick Dorsa II, the zoo’s director of animal care, said in a statement the successful hatching is “a testament to the design and construction” of the habitat.
How to see the chick: You can’t for the time being. Zoo officials are keeping it away from visitors until the chick matures, though you can still see adult Cape vultures at the zoo’s enclosure.
Though visitors will have to wait until the chick matures to see it in the enclosure, you can still take in the impressive eight and a half foot wingspan of the adult Cape vultures.
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Courtesy Jamie Pham/L.A. Zoo
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What zoo officials are saying: “Welcoming a Cape vulture chick is a thrilling moment for our team and a beacon of hope for African vultures,” the L.A. Zoo’s curator of birds Rose Legato said in a statement. “Vultures are one of nature's most misunderstood marvels, and I cannot wait for our guests to eventually watch this chick grow and learn just how vital they are to our ecosystems.”
About the species: Cape vultures are listed as a vulnerable species due to human activities and encroachment. According to the L.A. Zoo, African vultures are more closely related to eagles and hawks than vultures native to the Americas, like the zoo's California condors that hatched last year.
What should have been a celebration for formerly incarcerated youth completing a reentry program at the Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory (BHAC) last week instead ended with seven students and two staff members detained by the Los Angeles Police Department, according to witnesses.
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Screenshot courtesy of BHAC
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Topline:
Last week, seven students and two staff members from the Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory (BHAC) were detained by the Los Angeles Police Department, according to witnesses. Now, BHAC staff and city officials are demanding answers from the LAPD, with some accusing officers of racial profiling.
What happened: According to the LAPD, officers observed a large group gathered on the corner of Cesar E. Chavez Avenue and Mott Street around 4:16 p.m. on March 26. The group, classified by police as an “aggressive gang group,” consisted of seven 18-year-old students from the BHAC’s Bridge Academy Movement (BAM) program and two BHAC staff members.
Allegations of racial profiling: In total, seven 18-year-old students and two staff members were detained. BHAC staff said one student and one staff member were taken to Hollenbeck Community Police Station and released less than two hours later after advocacy from community members and Councilmember Ysabel Jurado. According to Rene Weber, a teaching artist at the BHAC, the students had gone to coffee across the street at Milpa Kitchen as they often did. After Weber told the officers that all of the students were 18, they said they would investigate whether the group had any gang affiliation.
What is BAM? The BAM program pays formerly incarcerated youth to complete 200-250 hours in media and visual arts training to prepare them for creative careers. That day, students were set to showcase their work at the BAM program graduation for families and community members.
What should have been a celebration for formerly incarcerated youth completing a reentry program at the Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory (BHAC) last week instead ended with seven students and two staff members detained by the Los Angeles Police Department, according to witnesses.
Now, nearly a week later, BHAC staff and city officials are demanding answers from the LAPD, with some accusing officers of racial profiling.
According to the LAPD, officers observed a large group gathered on the corner of Cesar E. Chavez Avenue and Mott Street around 4:16 p.m. on March 26. Authorities then requested backup for what they described as “a large group surrounding officers,” LAPD Public Information Officer Tony Im said.
The group, classified by police as an “aggressive gang group,” consisted of seven 18-year-old students from the BHAC’s Bridge Academy Movement (BAM) program and two BHAC staff members.
The BAM program pays formerly incarcerated youth to complete 200-250 hours in media and visual arts training to prepare them for creative careers. That day, students were set to showcase their work at the BAM program graduation for families and community members.
Rene Weber, a teaching artist at the BHAC, had been with the students setting up for the ceremony minutes before the incident occurred.
According to Weber, the students had gone to coffee across the street at Milpa Kitchen as they often did, when staff were alerted that they were being detained.
Weber said he arrived to find students and a staff member pressed against the wall in handcuffs.
Video from the scene, taken by a staff member at the BHAC, shows multiple officers surrounding the group. At one point, an officer orders a person to “get on the wall” and displays a stun gun.
“No, none of that, these are kids right here,” the staff member replies.
Another staff member, Teotl Veliz, recorded a large police response.
“I counted 12 cop cars, that’s at least 25 cops, and they had a helicopter,” Veliz said. “It was just so comedic, tragically comedic, that it was on their graduation day too.”
Officers established a perimeter with yellow tape along the side of Ashley’s Beauty Salon as local business owners and witnesses gathered around the students.
“I was just incredibly disappointed in LAPD… because it became so apparent to everybody, all at the same time, that it was racial profiling and nothing else,” Veliz said.
Weber said officers gave shifting explanations for the stop at the scene, including blocking the sidewalk and possible underage vaping. After Weber told the officers that all of the students were 18, they said they would investigate whether the group had any gang affiliation.
Police have not responded to questions about what led officers to believe that the group was gang-affiliated.
Weber recalled pleading with the officers to let the group go and explaining to them that they worked across the street. Community members and local business owners also stepped in to vouch for the students.
“Our job is to help them gain a new perspective on life,” Weber said. “They’re coming out of juvenile detention and they’re turning their lives around. We can do our part in keeping them off the streets and keeping them doing better but what does it mean if they’re going to be profiled and treated exactly the same way?”
In total, seven 18-year-old students and two staff members were detained. BHAC staff said one student and one staff member were taken to Hollenbeck Community Police Station and released less than two hours later after advocacy from community members and Councilmember Ysabel Jurado.
The incident ultimately resulted in an infraction for smoking a cannabis e-vape on a public sidewalk, according to a photo of the infraction shared with the Beat. LAPD did not provide details about the people taken to Hollenbeck Station or the infraction.
The graduation ceremony was cancelled that night and is expected to be rescheduled in April.
“Graduation should be a moment of pride and possibility — not fear,” Jurado said in a statement. “I’m seeking answers about what occurred, and this underscores the need for stronger relationships between law enforcement and community organizations so moments like these are protected, not disrupted.”
Carmelita Ramirez‑Sanchez, the conservatory’s executive director, said she was grateful to the community and Jurado for advocating for the students’ release. Jurado met her at Hollenbeck Station within 20 minutes of being alerted to the incident, she said.
“They had store owners, señoras, barbers, that ran out and were trying to explain to the police who our kids were,” Ramirez‑Sanchez said.
Still, she said the incident tarnished what should have been a joyous celebration.
“I imagine that what this does is derail this entire idea that you can be an active participant in your own restorative growth,” she said.
