The Brief

Jasmine Delgado flips through an old family photo album at the dining room table of her childhood home.

One snapshot from the 1960s shows Delgado’s dad posing near the Venice Beach Boardwalk, not far from where she grew up along the border of Culver City and L.A. Another photo captures farm workers on strike in the 1930s. Her grandfather picked celery back when much of the state’s crop was grown in Venice.

Now, Delgado worries she and her infant son Theo may have to sever family roots going back more than a century.

“It breaks my heart,” said Delgado, 31. “I'm a Westside girl, through and through. I was born and raised here. My dad was born and raised here... I just don't know if Theo is going to be able to be raised here.”

Across Los Angeles, millennial parents are being driven to the same conclusion. The region’s severe lack of affordable family-sized housing has families moving out of state or deciding to delay having kids, leading to declining school enrollment and broken family ties.

Family-sized apartments in L.A. cost $4,000 to rent

The math is startling. In the mid-1990s, close to 4 in 10 local households could afford a median-priced home in L.A. County, according to the California Association of Realtors.

With the current median home price reaching $817,100, only about 11% of local households can afford to buy today.

It’s not just homeownership that's getting further out of reach. Even renting an apartment with enough space for kids is increasingly inaccessible to millennial parents.

The city of L.A.’s most recent housing planning document estimates that a three-bedroom unit rents for about $3,995 per month, making family-sized apartments unaffordable to households earning less than $159,800 per year.

L.A. County’s median household income is about $83,000.

The region’s shortage of family-sized housing affordable to young parents has spurred lawmakers to consider new policies aimed at building cheaper apartments with more bedrooms.

On another front, some older Angelenos — who are far more likely than millennial parents to own large houses in L.A. — are beginning to construct additional housing units on their properties as a way to make space for young families.

But it could take years for such efforts to ease pent-up demand. Until then, millennials with kids will have to scramble to find space for their families.

Housing kids ‘seems impossible in L.A.’

After graduating from UCLA, Delgado rented housing with a friend. Later on, she moved into a small one-bedroom Brentwood apartment with her partner. She worked on Erin Darling’s unsuccessful 2022 campaign to represent L.A. city council district 11.

After becoming pregnant, Delgado said it was clear that she couldn’t afford an apartment large enough for children. So she decided to return to her parents’ home to care for her baby full-time.

“I have a lot of help from my family, which is part of why I moved back in,” Delgado said. Eventually, she wants to go back to work and find a place she and her partner can call their own.

“This isn't a permanent thing,” she said. “I don't want to be a stay-at-home mom forever. And I'm scared that the price of both housing and childcare is just going up.”

Her partner has floated the idea of relocating to Wyoming, where they could afford to buy a house.

Delgado admits the idea makes financial sense. But she’s not sure she’s ready for such a big move.

“I want a house for us, or even just a space of our own — it doesn't have to be a house,” Delgado said. “But it seems impossible in Los Angeles. That reminds me of how communities start to fracture, when people have to move far away from the places where they have roots, families, friends, jobs, memories.”

Jasmine Delgado plays with a family dog in her backyard, which abuts the 405 Freeway. Caltrans seized some of her family’s property for a mid-2000s widening project.

(

David Wagner

/

LAist

)

The elusive hunt for an affordable 3 BDRM

Despite the cost and lack of space, many L.A. families are making apartment life work.

Brianna Mercado, 35, recently moved into a two-bedroom Eagle Rock apartment with her husband, 5-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter. They previously rented a house in Monrovia.

“The biggest difference is just feeling like there's not so much outdoor space for the kids,” Mercado said. There are also times when different family members are on different wavelengths.

“When I'm tired, but the kids are bouncy, it can be difficult,” she said. “Or if my husband is wanting to cook up a storm, but I'm wanting to chill.”

Mercado is glad the apartment is close to her husband’s job as a humanities teacher in a private school her kids now attend (with a tuition break). And she’s happy they found an affordable place after an eye-opening search.

“I was very naive in what I thought would be available to us,” Mercado said. “There just weren't really three-bedroom homes that were within our price range.”

Brianna Mercado sits next to moving boxes full of art she plans to hang on the walls of her family’s new Eagle Rock apartment.

(

David Wagner

/

LAist

)

For now, Mercado said her family has no plans to buy a home in Los Angeles. The prices, she said, are “outrageous.”

Buying a home would mean “leaving L.A. or getting really creative and figuring out how to do it with other people,” Mercado said, keeping her mind open to co-buying property with friends. “Those seem like the only two options.”

L.A. school enrollment is plummeting 

A 2023 survey from the Public Policy Institute of California found that half (51%) of Californians aged 18 to 34 had considered moving to a cheaper area or leaving the state entirely due to housing costs. Younger Californians were more likely to view moving as a potential solution to unaffordable housing than respondents over 55.

Millennials aren’t just daydreaming about leaving L.A. Many are doing it. The county’s population fell by more than 90,000 between July 1, 2021, and July 1, 2022, driven in large part by families flocking to regions with more affordable housing.

Similar trends show up in public school enrollment. The number of students in K-12 schools has fallen by 15% across greater L.A. over the last decade, the steepest decline in all of California. The California Department of Finance projects L.A. enrollment will fall another 19% by 2032.

Julien Lafortune, a research fellow specializing in education at the Public Policy Institute of California, said economists have linked soaring home prices with declining birth rates among couples who rent. So it’s no surprise to see fewer kids showing up in L.A. schools.

“We take time to work longer and build up income to then save for and buy a house,” Lafortune said. “But if you start having children later, statistically you have fewer children.”

The Inglewood Unified School District announced plans last week to permanently close five schools. The district’s enrollment has fallen from 18,000 in 2002 to less than 7,000 today.

Young families also need home offices, in-law units

For families choosing to stay, squeezing into small apartments is common. About 270,000 households in the city of L.A. meet the federal government’s definition of overcrowding. At 17%, L.A. has one of the nation's highest rental overcrowding rates.

With room for kids at a premium, some L.A. couples are opting to delay having children. In an economy transformed by remote work, many young parents also need home office space. Some have to care for their aging parents too.

Don Fisco takes a call while his wife Deveny Fisco Rohrer works out of their two-bedroom apartment’s dining room.

(

Zaydee Sanchez

/

LAist

)

Don Fisco, 36, works from home as a film and TV editor. His job requires a dedicated editing suite that currently takes up one of his apartment’s two bedrooms. His wife often does her marketing job out of their apartment as well.

“We're now at the point where we are soon to outgrow it, because we're hoping to expand and start a family,” Fisco said. He also wants his widowed father to join them from New Jersey after he retires from a career in the U.S. Post Office that began during the Carter Administration.

“We don't really want him to be there by himself,” Fisco said. “Not only are we trying to find a place that will be able to accommodate a work-from-home situation for not one but two people, have a space for a kid, but also for my retired father… Even with two incomes, I just can't see how you're able to do it.”

Fisco said public perception of millennials seems stuck on worn-out tropes about how slow they are to hit adult milestones like buying homes and having kids.

He said that’s not by choice.

“Millennials are in their 30s and 40s — they're not goofing off and partying,” Fisco said. “We want the ability to be lame and settle down. And we just have structural problems that are preventing us from doing that.”

Listen

How to have a voice on housing affordability

When Christian Bryson needs quick weather information, like for this weekend's massive snowstorm, he doesn't wait for the 5 p.m. local newscast. Instead, he turns to Ryan Hall.

"It's as if he's sitting in the living room with you tracking the storm," said Bryson, a 21-year-old meteorology student at the University of Tennessee at Martin.

Hall, who goes by "Ryan Hall, Y'all" on his social media platforms, calls himself a "digital meteorologist" and "The Internet's Weather Man." His YouTube channel has over 3 million subscribers. Hall did not respond to a request to comment about his platform.
Hall is part of an increasingly popular genre of social media weather accounts that share information leading up to extreme weather, and then livestream for their viewers, sometimes for hours at a time. Overall, Hall offers solid information and is a good communicator with a few technical omissions, experts told NPR. But the weather genre online spans a wide range of sources — from amateurs with no science background to accredited meteorologists.
Experts say that while weather influencers can help fill an information gap, platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and X tend to prioritize engagement and likes over accuracy. That means extreme weather updates on social media are often sensationalized or lack context, says Gary Lackmann, a professor of atmospheric science at North Carolina State University.
"They're not going to the National Weather Service web page, they're just looking at what's in their feed," Lackmann said. "Once you start clicking on viral extreme weather stuff, then the algorithm is going to just feed you more and more."

Rise in social media use for weather updates

Lackmann, who is also head of NC State's department of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences, said in 2024 during Hurricane Helene, a weather disaster that swamped western North Carolina, killing 108 people, he started to see more and more people getting their weather information from social media
He says that, in the face of extreme weather events, people need credible and authoritative sources such as the NWS.
But with social media, sometimes "you get some kid who wants to get a lot of shares and likes and be an influencer on social media," he said.
Matthew Cappucci, a senior meteorologist for the weather app MyRadar, has personal experience with both worlds. He worked for years at the Washington Post as a meteorologist, and now posts weather forecasts on the internet.
Cappucci said his success on Facebook, Instagram, and X shows how rapidly people are shifting from getting their weather information from traditional news outlets versus social media.
"Within two months, I was able to reach 60 million-plus people on social media, just on Facebook," Cappucci said
Bryson, the 21-year-old, said Hall and other credible weather influencers use language that non-meteorologists understand and they can share information at any time of the day.
"The fact that it's available at your fingertips," Bryson said. "I could go to Ryan Hall at 4 p.m. I'm eating my dinner and get the information that I need."

Digital meteorology can help fill information gaps 

There are positives to having meteorologists and credible weather sources on social media, Lackmann said. He's seen local weather influencers in North Carolina help disperse information from official outlets.

"There's a real need for that kind of localization and personalization of weather information," Lackmann said.
Aaron Scott, an assistant professor of meteorology at the University of Tennessee at Martin, said digital meteorology, a relatively new certification program that encompasses all forms of digital media, has an important place in the new media landscape.
"People do trust them, and they have built rapport," Scott said. "Sometimes that can make the difference if someone's going to actually go take shelter from a tornado or not."
Scott's department at UT Martin is now offering a digital meteorology class dedicated to teaching students how to engage with an online audience.
Cappucci also sees the positives with his own content. Social media allows for more flexibility than on-air television, he said. He pushes back on climate misinformation or weather conspiracy theorists.

A minefield of misinformation on social media

But all three experts interviewed by NPR see the downsides in the way social media algorithms push the most sensationalized — not always the most accurate — information to the forefront.
"The brightest colors, the most outlandish information will always get more following than actual truthful information," Cappucci said.
Cappucci said the ability to make increasing amounts of money on social media can also lead to inaccurate weather information.
"As TV viewership wanes and as salaries come down, it's easier to make up that money by posting crazy stuff online," Cappucci said.
Meteorologists use a number of different numerical models as they predict the possible outcomes of an extreme weather event. Because of this, people can "cherry-pick" one model and sensationalize a forecast, Lackmann said.
"You cry wolf too often, and people won't take proper precautions when there really is a high probability of an extreme event," Lackmann said.

The effort to preserve credible weather reports

Meteorologists and other weather professionals are grappling with how to navigate the new media landscape and prioritize accurate information, the experts said.
NWS has increased its social media presence, Lackmann said. Experts at the American Meteorological Society have discussed a social media certification that extends beyond the digital media certification currently available.

Scott said how the field will grapple with social media, and now AI-generated media, is "a huge question mark."
"That's the million-dollar question," Scott said. "How do we make it? Do we have some type of badging system where you're certified, you're not? Then, who decides that?"
Copyright 2026 NPR

Housed in the basement of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Koreatown is a small room filled with ladders, drills, saws and other tools that many renters don’t have space – or reason – to own.

Starting Saturday, that room will officially open as the Los Angeles Tool Library. In this volunteer-run lending library, community members can borrow tools instead of purchasing new ones.

The idea began two summers ago, when founding member Chih-Wei Hsu was trying to build benches with friends and realized they didn’t have the right tools. After researching tool libraries around the country, Hsu learned that while they’re common elsewhere, there were none in his neighborhood.

“I feel like one of the biggest ways this can help people is – especially for a lot of people that are only wanting to build, say a shelf or a bench – it doesn’t make sense to go out and buy something that costs you $100, $200 just to do this one cut for this one project,” Hsu said.

The model is simple: Residents can sign up for a membership online or in person, browse available tools online or in-person and check them out for up to 10 days and renew once if no one else has reserved them. Borrowers are asked to bring an ID and proof of address, similar to a traditional library.

The library will operate Wednesdays and Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with plans to expand hours as more volunteers join.

“Instead of buying one thing and letting it sit on a shelf forever, we’d be able to share resources,” Hsu said. “A lot of people live in apartments or smaller spaces. Not everyone has a garage. A ladder is very useful to change a lightbulb, but not everyone has space to store a six-foot ladder.”

The library is designed with renters in mind, particularly in central Los Angeles. Hsu said the project is meant to be accessible and affordable, with monthly membership costs of $10 to $20 and with slight discounts for annual sign-ups. The library also offers volunteer opportunities in exchange for membership.

The library does not yet offer bilingual services, though Hsu said organizers are working to recruit Spanish-speaking volunteers.

Finding a space that is affordable was a major hurdle, but Hsu eventually secured a basement space at Immanuel Presbyterian Church.

The library has raised about $4,000 through donations and a founding membership drive, with much of its inventory coming from individual donors and in-kind contributions from the Makers Hub, a tool library in Compton.

“Everyone who’s working right now is a volunteer,” Hsu said. “If we scale up enough, we can look into hiring people, but the idea was always for this to be volunteer-driven.”

Beyond tool lending, organizers hope the space can serve as a community hub, hosting gatherings like book clubs or skill-sharing events.

Hidden along one of LA’s most iconic — and often gridlocked — boulevards, Pico-Union’s art scene is having a moment.

It is one of Los Angeles’ most densely populated neighborhoods, with more than 34,000 people per square mile. It is also among the city’s oldest.

Located west of Downtown LA, Pico-Union has the distinction of being a part of the original El Pueblo de Los Angeles settlement, putting it within the city’s original boundaries established in 1781.

The neighborhood has a rich history, from its days as an upper-class suburb to its current role as a major destination for immigrants.

Because of this, Pico-Union is largely known for its diverse, bustling community and its stunning architecture, with many streets lined with Victorian, Craftsman and Mission Revival homes.

No discussion of Pico-Union would be complete without a mention of Powers Place, the shortest street in LA. Just 35 feet long, it runs between Alvarado Terrace and S. Bonnie Brae Street.

But Pico-Union doesn’t get enough credit for its numerous creative spaces, making it an under-the-radar spot for art lovers and practicing artists. And all of it is happening on its slice of Venice Boulevard.

The 13-mile road also has a long history as one of LA’s most famous streets. It began as West 16th Street in 1896, when a streetcar could take riders to the ocean.

By 1950, when the railcars disappeared, Venice Boulevard was more than just a major thoroughfare. It became part of LA’s identity — a vibrant, pulsating corridor that acts as a crossroads of ideas, history, and raw creative energy.

The street begins at the bohemian, stylish storefronts of Abbot Kinney in Venice and cuts an unapologetic path all the way to the dense, commercial commotion of Downtown Los Angeles. This vast stretch is a living testament to the city’s rich tapestry, evidenced by the eclectic mix of locally-owned businesses, the deep roots of numerous cultures and the explosion of vibrant, meaningful murals that adorn its walls.

In the heart of the city, where Venice Boulevard slices through the neighborhood of Pico-Union, the artistic spirit of Los Angeles finds a particularly resilient home. Along this single, vital street, one can discover the places and people that are actively ensuring the neighborhood’s powerful, creative legacy continues to thrive.

Artwork from the Pico-Union art scene on display at as-is.

(

Joe Garza

/

The LA Local

)

as-is

A modern art gallery in a nondescript building on Venice Boulevard, as-is starkly contrasts with its mostly working-class surroundings. It offers a quiet escape from Pico-Union’s busy streets, making it a hidden gem for visitors.

While as-is looks modern, it keeps one eye on the recent past.

“The gallery has an interest in regionalism — Los Angeles in general — but also a kind of hyper-localism,” the gallery’s director Tom Jimmerson told The LA Local. “Things that have happened just a few blocks from here, maybe in the 1970s or 1980s, have ended up becoming a kind of time capsule.”

Pico-Union has had its ups and downs over the last century from being a streetcar suburb to an area impacted by freeway construction and periods of disinvestment.

Its past reputation as a creative mecca of sorts has been forgotten, Jimmerson said.

And while the neighborhood represents far more than just art, it’s places like as-is that preserve its uniquely artistic history, and may even serve as a signpost for Pico-Union’s future.

“We kind of operate as a reminder that this neighborhood has had different kinds of functions and different kinds of associations over the years,” Jimmerson explained. “Art had been one, and will be one again, no doubt.”

Location: 1133 Venice Blvd.
Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 6 p.m.
Website: https://www.as-is.la/

Part of exhibit from the Pico-Union art scene at Demi Lauren Studios.

(

Joe Garza

/

The LA Local

)

Demi Lauren Studios

Putting a paintbrush to a canvas may seem like a daunting task for those who think they don’t have a creative bone in their body. But Demi Lauren Studios proves that the barrier to becoming an artist is thinner than most people realize. It can also be a bit more fun.

Here, clients can learn how to paint from experienced mentors while listening to music, sipping on an alcoholic drink, and even smoking.

“It’s a vibe! It’s colorful, you get to relax, it’s very welcoming, and you can just have a good time,” Demi told The LA Local.

Demi said many people come in thinking they can’t paint or draw.

“But it’s easier than it looks!” he said excitedly. “Some people are totally shocked when they’re able to create something.”

Many people credit Demi’s instruction style. “I just try and break it down into shapes and familiar objects so they can make a masterpiece,” he explains.

Location: 1459 Venice Blvd.
Hours: Wednesday through Friday, 2 to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 3 to 9 p.m.; Sunday, 2 to 4:30 p.m.
Website: https://artclasseslosangeles.com/

A mural outside the Graf Lab highlights the prominence of street art in the Pico-Union art scene.

(

Joe Garza

/

The LA Local

)

The Graff Lab

Graffiti is sometimes linked to mischief and illegal activity rather than a form of high art.

But the Graff Lab takes the craft seriously, providing a large outdoor area where artists of all ages can express themselves without the fear of being arrested.

As part of the Pico Union Housing Corporation, the Graff Lab was founded by Ricardo Guerrero, the program’s director.

“It was created out of the need for there to be an arts space in the community,” he told The LA Local.

In addition to graffiti arts instruction, the Graff Lab also hosts numerous cultural events, along with other arts and athletics educational programs.

This urban sanctuary offers artists, especially youth, a safe and supportive place to build creative skills while navigating the challenges many face outside its doors.

“A lot of the kids that hang out here and do their art,” Guerrero explained. “They tell me themselves that if it weren’t for this place that they’d probably be in a gang or dead. It’s a very rough community.”

Location: 1038 Venice Blvd.
Hours: Monday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Website: https://www.thegrafflab.com/

It's long been understood that working outside in hot weather can be dangerous: Even ancient Egyptians worried about dehydration for workers building the pyramids.

Now, a growing body of research is quantifying that danger — and suggesting ways to better protect workers.

The risks extend beyond obvious concerns like dehydration and heatstroke.

"Heat makes people slower to react and worse at making decisions," says Adam Dean, a labor economist at George Washington University. "That means farmworkers driving a tractor or a construction worker operating equipment are more likely to have a fatal accident on a hot day."

But a suite of new analyses has found that regulations that provide basic safeguards like water, shade and rest for workers in hot conditions can help lower the numbers of heat-driven injuries, workers' compensation claims and even deaths.

The studies all use different datasets and methods but come to a similar conclusion, says Barrak Alahmad, an environmental health scientist at Harvard University and an expert on occupational health risks.

"States with heat standards have lower risk of heat injuries, of heat fatalities and other outcomes compared to states that don't have these heat standards," Alahmad says.

The most recent study, published in December in the journal Health Affairs, looked at California's rule protecting outdoor workers from heat, the oldest such rule in the country. Researchers found the regulations led to at least a 33% drop in heat-related deaths among workers after 2010 — an estimate of several dozen lives saved each year.

The outcome "delivers a clear message," says Dean, the study's lead author. "Heat standards, if they're adopted and effectively enforced, can significantly reduce worker deaths."

The new wave of studies comes as the federal government is considering creating new national rules to protect workers from excessive heat. Several states and local jurisdictions are also considering new standards.

The federal rules, first proposed under Biden, are now under review by the Trump administration. Their future is uncertain.

While the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has recognized for decades that heat poses risks to workers, there is active debate among worker advocates and business groups about how best to provide protections: via stringent, highly specific regulations, or with broader guidelines that allow employers to take the lead in crafting efforts specific to their own industries.

The new studies could help inform any new rules, says Jordan Barab, who was deputy assistant secretary of labor at OSHA under the Obama administration. Though the basic measures to protect workers have been well-known for decades, it's invaluable, he says, to "show that when a state actually implements these requirements that they actually have saved lives."

The California example

Federal regulators first noted that heat could put American workers at risk in the 1970s and '80s. But for years, OSHA prioritized regulating other workplace hazards. Heat issues were managed under the agency's more generalized rules, such as the "general duty clause," which required employers to maintain workplaces "free from recognized hazards."

But some states, like California, decided to go further. In 2005, after the highly publicized deaths of several farmworkers due to heat exposure, California passed the nation's first state-level regulations to protect outdoor workers from excessive heat. Requirements kicked off when temperatures exceeded 85 degrees Fahrenheit (the threshold has since been lowered further).

The rules set out to provide some simple protections: access to water, shade and rest on hot days.

For many years, California was the only state with such heat rules, setting up a natural experiment: Would heat-related worker deaths fall in California, compared to neighboring states with similar weather conditions but no such protections?

The new study suggests that, at first, the rules didn't make much of a difference. During the first few years, researchers did not find a decrease in heat-related death rates in California compared to neighboring states.

"When California first adopted a standard in 2005, it was ineffective," Dean says.

But that would soon change.

In 2010, the state strengthened the rule and deaths began to drop, the study found — eventually falling by more than 30%, with even more dramatic reductions in recent years.

The changes to the rule, Dean says, were critical. Though the initial rules required employers to provide water and shade, in practice, inspectors sometimes found problems — like undrinkable water.

So, the state clarified. Water had to be drinkable and free. And there needed to be enough shade for all workers during breaks. California also ramped up workplace inspections and launched an educational campaign to train the state's many outdoor workers about their rights.

"A critical lesson is that merely passing a heat standard is not enough," Dean says. "It was only after the state launched a statewide enforcement campaign that we started to see deaths decrease relative to the surrounding states."

The rules could have been even more effective with more consistent enforcement, says Garrett Brown, who until 2014 worked for Cal/OSHA, the state agency tasked with enforcing the rule. Even though the number of inspections increased, he says, limited staffing caused ongoing enforcement challenges.

It could have been "even more health protective for workers if there was an even more robust enforcement program," Brown says.

A growing body of evidence

The California study joins two other analyses with similar findings published in the past year.

Together, they provide important insights that could help in the design of future rules, says Alahmad. He led an analysis of heat-influenced worker injuries, published earlier this year, which found that states with heat rules had lower injury rates than those without.

Another recent study found workers' compensation claims were lower in states with heat standards compared to those without.

The next step for researchers is to suss out the most important parts of those regulations, Alahmad says: "What elements are actually most effective?"

That will be key information for regulators across the country. More than a dozen states and cities proposed new heat protection rules in 2025.

Edited by Rachel Waldholz