David Wagner
covers housing in Southern California, a place where the lack of affordable housing contributes to homelessness.
Published July 22, 2024 5:00 AM
Many unhoused people in the Antelope Valley live in RVs parked far into the Mojave Desert, miles from population centers.
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David Wagner
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LAist
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Topline:
After years of increases, the number of unhoused people across L.A. County held steady in this year’s count. But the trend is very different in the Antelope Valley, where homelessness rose 42% in the past year alone.
The backstory: Service providers and housing advocates say cities like Lancaster and Palmdale — long seen as affordable landing pads for tenants fleeing higher rents in central L.A. County — have also become too expensive. The latest statistics show that homelessness in the region has more than doubled since 2018 — far outpacing other parts of L.A. County.
What’s driving the increase? Homelessness officials say this year’s dramatic increase may in part be the result of better data collection. This year, for the first time, they used drones to get a more precise count of unhoused people living way out in the Mojave Desert. Others say the main driver is obvious: rents are rising, and homelessness is rising too.
Read more… to learn how people are falling into homelessness in the Antelope Valley, how they’re surviving the heat, and why the mayor of Lancaster is encouraging residents to arm themselves.
When the results of Los Angeles County’s most recent homeless count showed the number of unhoused people holding steady, elected leaders celebrated. The news brought some relief after years of increases.
Lost amid the cheers were the much more dire numbers coming out of the Antelope Valley, where homelessness rose 42% in the last year alone.
Homelessness in L.A. County’s northern desert region has more than doubled since 2018, far outpacing other parts of the county.
What’s causing the increase? Service providers and housing advocates say this once-affordable oasis has itself become too expensive. Antelope Valley residents hanging onto cheap housing are now competing with an influx of people fleeing high rents in central L.A. County.
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In LA's inhospitable Antelope Valley, homelessness is on the rise
And in an area known for brutal summer heat, high winds and freezing winters, the vast majority of unhoused people in the Antelope Valley are unsheltered.
Eve Garrow, a policy analyst with the ACLU of Southern California who has studied homelessness in cities like Palmdale and Lancaster, as well as big unincorporated swaths of the Antelope Valley, said the main driver of homelessness here is no mystery.
“As rent becomes unaffordable, people are displaced,” Garrow said. “It's not rocket science.”
Drones: a new way to count the desert’s unhoused
Officials with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) say this year’s dramatic increase may in part be the result of better data collection. This year, for the first time, they used drones to get a more precise count of unhoused people living way out in the Mojave Desert.
L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the Antelope Valley, told LAist in an email she was unsure if the numbers “reflect a net increase or if LAHSA’s innovative use of drones did a better job of counting. Regardless, we will use those results to draw down more federal and state funding so that we can deliver more local housing and shelter options.”
Other local government leaders insist the numbers are going up because larger cities are pushing unhoused people beyond their borders and into Antelope Valley.
It's a common claim for local politicians to make, but homelessness policy experts argue that’s unlikely. They say unhoused people tend to live close to where they were last housed. And those who spoke to LAist about their experiences had largely been renting in the area for years before they fell into homelessness.
He lost a life partner. Then he lost his housing
Before he entered a shelter and got help securing the keys to his own apartment in a Lancaster senior living complex, Jerome Hall spent two years in a tent.
“It was just rough for me,” he said. “Lots of times, I just wanted to give up. But I knew it wasn't the right thing to do.”
Hall, 61 and living with schizophrenia, lost his housing after his wife of 33 years died.
“When I met my wife, she was somebody I was comfortable around,” Hall said. “I was able to share things with her. She was able to share things with me. When she passed away, it felt like there was nothing else to live for. So I was just out on the street.”
Jerome Hall holds the keys to his new apartment in Lancaster.
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Hall and his wife first came to Lancaster after getting priced out of the city of L.A. When they could no longer afford rent in South L.A., they packed up and moved to the San Fernando Valley.
“But then it started getting high,” Hall said. “So we decided to come out here where it was at least cheaper — something we could afford.”
Rent in Lancaster was cheaper. But the $1,200 monthly rent for a two-bedroom home still took more than half their income, considered a severe rent burden according to federal government standards.
After his wife died, Hall didn’t have enough Social Security disability income to cover the rent. His next move was to a vacant lot.
‘More affordable,’ but still out of reach for many
Luis Montes, the North County chief service officer for Mental Health America of Los Angeles, has been working in the Antelope Valley since 2010. He said Hall (who is now receiving services from Mental Health America of L.A.) has a story that’s become increasingly common.
“When I first moved out here, you could get an apartment for $600 or $700,” Montes said. “I don't think you can get anything under $2,000 now.”
Luis Montes sits at his desk in the Lancaster offices of Mental Health America of Los Angeles.
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The Antelope Valley has traditionally been a landing pad for people ejected from L.A. County’s pricier cities. But Montes says that landing pad is losing its cushion.
“Even though it's more affordable than the rest of the county, I don't think it's affordable at all,” he said.
Montes said his team is serving more parents with young kids. This year’s count shows that 18% of people experiencing homelessness in the Antelope Valley are part of a family with children, compared with 15% of unhoused people countywide.
Families struggle to find landlords willing to take them
Tammy, who did not want to use her full name due to privacy concerns, is currently living in a motel with her 18-year-old son.
She said they used to share a mobile home with her adult daughter. But after her daughter died, the property owner wanted the remaining tenants out, Tammy said. They hope to find permanent housing soon, but she knows her options are limited.
“They want you to have [an income of] three times the rent, good credit, no evictions,” Tammy said. “And if you don’t have all of that, you're not going to get in a place.”
Lancaster’s city hall sits a few blocks from the railroad tracks running through the Antelope Valley.
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People without housing in the Antelope Valley are also more likely to be unsheltered than their peers countywide. Living outside can be dangerous, even life-threatening, for the 83% of unhoused people living in tents, vehicles and other makeshift structures in a region where temperatures regularly climb above 100 degrees.
Unsheltered in an inhospitable landscape
Next to the train tracks running through Lancaster, dozens of people huddled inside their tents on a July afternoon, just trying to survive in 110-degree heat.
“I've always lived close to the train, but I never thought I’d live this close,” said Michael Vern Potts as a freight train rattled by, blaring its horn.
Potts grew up in Lancaster, but has been unhoused for the past 14 years. He said he tries to look out for people in the encampment, bringing them water or ice cream and seeing if they’re staying cool.
“See that gentleman passed out right over there?” Potts said, gesturing to a man slumped near a tent across the parking lot. “He’s been passed out for like two days. I wake him up like every four hours, check on him, make sure he's OK. Because I love the guy.”
Michael Vern Potts stands near his belongings, gathered under a tarp in the middle of an encampment in Lancaster.
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Residents of encampments like these say they spend much of their time collecting water to stay hydrated throughout the day.
People need at least four gallons of water per day in emergency situations, according to the World Health Organization. But unhoused people in the Antelope Valley often lack easy access to running water — especially those living in broken-down RVs parked on desert scrubland.
Pushed beyond city limits
A 2021 report from the ACLU of Southern California found that policies to discourage encampments in the city of Lancaster have effectively “banished” people to unincorporated parts of the county. Once they relocate to these far-flung areas, unhoused people have to travel miles to replenish their water supplies, a trek that can cause heat stroke for those without a vehicle.
Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris, a Republican serving his sixth term in office, is unapologetic about his efforts to push people outside city limits.
“People who need help and want help, I want to help,” Parris said. “People who want to steal and rob and intimidate people into giving them money, I want to remove. And that's what we're doing.”
Parris believes bigger cities are “sending” their unhoused to the Antelope Valley, which he says receives far fewer resources to address homelessness than other parts of L.A. County. In reaction, he said in an interview with LAist that city officials are “going to start issuing gun permits at a rapid rate with priority for women.”
And it’s not the first time he’s encouraged Lancaster residents to arm themselves against what he describes as an “influx of thugs and drug addicts that we protect because they're homeless.”
Surveys show most unhoused people in the Antelope Valley do not have substance use disorders or serious mental illnesses. Almost half are women, a much higher percentage than in the county as a whole.
Clusters of RVs spread out in the Mojave Desert, where unhoused people lack access to electricity lines and running water.
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Few options for those left out of a hot housing market
Eve Garrow, the author of the ACLU report, said the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson gives cities like Lancaster more leeway to punish unhoused people.
“It gives local governments an additional tool in their tool belt with which to continue to harass unsheltered people,” Garrow said, “instead of providing them with the life-saving resources — including permanent supportive housing — they are going to require to get off the streets.”
Garrow said with lotteries for vouchers and years-long waitlists, subsidized housing isn’t available for most who need it. And local governments haven’t done much to increase the supply of affordable housing.
In the last six years, the Antelope Valley has only created about 300 permanent supportive housing units. Garrow says that’s nowhere near enough for the 6,672 people who lack housing in these often overlooked margins of L.A. County.
If you care about housing affordability
For people who live in L.A. County, the Board of Supervisors has the most direct impact on housing affordability in your neighborhood.
The best way to keep tabs on your own local government is by attending public meetings for your city council or local boards. Here are a few tips to get you started.
Find meeting schedules and agendas: City councils usually meet at least twice a month, although larger ones may meet weekly. Committees and boards tend to meet less often, typically once a month. You can find the schedule and meeting agenda on your local government’s website, or posted physically at your local city hall. Find more tips here.
Learn the jargon: Closed session, consent calendars and more! We have definitions for commonly used terms here.
How to give public comment: Every public meeting allows community members to give comment, whether or not it’s about something on the agenda. The meeting agenda will have specific instructions for giving public comment. Review more details here.
A man casts his ballot during early voting in Waukesha, Wis., on March 18.
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Miguel Gutierrez Jr.
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AFP via Getty Images
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Topline:
More than 4 in 10 names flagged as possible noncitizen voters in California by the Trump administration cannot be found on the state’s voter rolls, according to a legal filing Saturday by an immigrant-rights group.
Why it matters: It’s the first outside analysis of a list that the Department of Justice has used to threaten prosecution of election officials. The analysis also found that thousands of U.S. citizens appear to be flagged as ineligible to vote on the government’s list.
Why now: The contention was made in a filing by two data analysts at the University of California, Los Angeles. The breadth of the problems with the list was outlined in Saturday’s filing. It describes an analysis by two members of UCLA’s Voting Rights Project, who filed a lawsuit challenging it with the Los Angeles-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 4 in 10 names flagged as possible noncitizen voters in California by the Trump administration cannot be found on the state’s voter rolls, according to a legal filing Saturday by an immigrant-rights group.
It’s the first outside analysis of a list that the Department of Justice has used to threaten prosecution of election officials. The analysis also found that thousands of U.S. citizens appear to be flagged as ineligible to vote on the government’s list.
The contention was made in a filing by two data analysts at the University of California, Los Angeles. They analyzed the 20,930 names that the department demanded that California election officials treat as possible illegal voters by separating their ballots during the vote count on Election Day.
Multiple judges have rejected the demand as unconstitutional and a threat to democracy, and local and state officials have said the list appears riddled with errors.
Court filing outlines problems with government list
The breadth of the problems with the list was outlined in Saturday’s filing. It describes an analysis by two members of UCLA’s Voting Rights Project, who filed a lawsuit challenging it with the Los Angeles-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA.
The research found that 8,880 of the names, representing 42% of the entire list, do not correspond to anyone in California’s current voter file. It also found at least 22 are U.S. citizens, and many more may correspond to those of confirmed citizens.
“The expert analysis further makes clear that the mandated voter list endangers a significant number of eligible California voters,” said the filing, which was cosigned by Xavier Becerra, the Democratic candidate for California governor and an adviser to the UCLA Voting Rights Project. null
The Trump administration had objected to sharing the list, calling it a “fishing expedition” and noting that it included sensitive information. On Saturday, the federal prosecutor who spearheaded the Trump case in California called the analysis “bogus.”
“This is a bogus report by the activist illegal immigrant rights group CHIRLA,” Bill Essayli, who runs the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles, posted on X.
Also on Saturday, President Donald Trump bemoaned the legal rulings against his effort to force California to separate votes from the individuals his administration labels suspected noncitizens, even though one came from a judge he himself nominated.
In a social media post, Trump claimed his Justice Department found “20,000, but potentially Hundreds of Thousands, and maybe even Millions,” of fraudulent votes, “and the Court has just ruled against it. Why would they reject fixing Election Fraud?”
The Trump administration has also urged Washington state to remove what it says were 400 possible noncitizens on its rolls, though state election officials there say that list is also unreliable and includes one voter who cast ballots in the 1990s.
The Justice Department has warned California election officials they could face criminal liability if they let noncitizens vote and issued subpoenas to election officials there.
Election officials say they have no time to investigate
Election officials have complained that the Trump administration has confronted them with lists of possible illegal voters at the last minute before Election Day, with no time to conduct the painstaking investigation required by law before removing someone from the rolls.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed to stop the administration from continuing to threaten local election officials.
On Friday, a federal judge in California ordered the Justice Department to stop sending demands to state officials, a decision the Trump administration appealed Saturday. Several counties in the state had run quick checks of the Trump list and found numerous errors.
Saturday’s broader analysis was possible because a federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to share the list with the plaintiffs in the case.
CHIRLA and the UCLA project sued the Homeland Security Department in early October to prevent it from using federal immigration data to challenge state voter rolls. The lawsuit cited examples in other states where the federal government’s data has been proven to mistakenly include thousands of citizens.
Case argues that government’s methods pose risk to voting
The case argued that the data-matching methods risk disenfranchising or deterring citizens from voting. On top of that, plaintiffs argued, the lists could disproportionately target naturalized citizens who are legally entitled to vote.
Applying the government’s methodology, the UCLA researchers found that nearly 7,500 naturalized citizens in the state were “highly likely” to be incorrectly flagged as ineligible.
The researchers noted that the administration apparently removed the voter identification number from the names, making it harder for election officials to determine whether the flagged individuals were already on their rolls or were duplicates in the Justice Department list. They described the voter ID number as the most crucial data point.
The Justice Department argues that there is just as much to lose if the ballots aren’t separated.
“Every ballot cast by an ineligible voter cancels out the vote of an American citizen,” Kiersten V. Pels, a spokesperson for the department, wrote in an email. “The Department makes no apology for protecting those votes.”
Josie Huang
is a reporter and Weekend Edition host who spotlights the people and places at the heart of our region.
Published November 1, 2026 5:00 AM
Jordan Delgado picked Lady Gaga's 'You and I' as her debut song with the L.A. Karaoke league.
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Josie Huang
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LAist
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Topline:
The LA Karaoke league turns singing into a team sport, where costumes, props and creativity matter more than hitting the right notes. For performers craving a creative outlet when auditions are harder to come by, the league offers a community to cheer them on.
The backstory: The L.A. league is part of United Karaoke, a national network of chapters that share a competition format, voting app and pledge to always keep the vibe friendly.
What's next: Teams compete for a spot in the finals. The public is welcome to watch and vote for their favorite performances.
For many of us, karaoke is a chance to sing our favorite shower song in public.
But at a North Hollywood bar every Wednesday night, it’s a team sport. And competitors in the L.A. Karaoke league are more serious about putting on an over-the-top production than hitting all the right notes.
At a social in late September, league manager Michelle Goff kicked off a new season of weekly themed showdowns, from dance-floor favorites to internet memes to songs inspired by birds.
Brittany Gates, the CEO of United Karaoke, who was visiting from D.C., did her rendition of 'Let's Hear It For The Boy' by Deniece Williams.
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Josie Huang
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"You are going to see numbers that people came up with in their crazy dreams maybe three years ago, and it's going to be amazing,” Goff told performers at the social. “And then they’re never going to be done again.”
Michelle Goff unveils the different themed weeks, from dance-floor favorites to internet memes to songs inspired by birds.
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Josie Huang
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Performances range from solos to group numbers, and the crowd votes for its favorites. Props and costumes are highly encouraged.
Here, dark wizards from Harry Potter duet to Taylor Swift. A singer tosses flowers to the crowd while belting Seal's “Kiss From a Rose.” Once, Goff danced around as an erupting Mount Vesuvius as her teammates sang Bastille's "Pompeii."
Like intramural sports but with microphones, teams compete over six weeks, followed by two weeks of playoffs, then the finals.
It all happens at the Good Nite bar, on a darkened stretch of Burbank Boulevard. Inside, there’s an inviting purple glow and warm conversation that can be hard to come by in a city as big as L.A.
“You know, the city, exciting as it is, still has so many strangers,” said Carlos Mulia.
A newcomer to the league, the chef-turned-actor already feels like he belongs.
Want to join the L.A. Karaoke league?
Where: The Good Nite, 10721 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood.
When: Wednesday nights during the season.
How: Check the chapter’s website or @WeSingLA on Instagram for season announcements. Fall season registration is closed. The next season will start in late January or early February.
Cost: Registration costs $65 to $80, depending on when you sign up and whether you use a discount code.
Can I go watch: Yes! League nights are open to the public, with no cover charge, and anyone can vote for their favorite performances.
“Sometimes you can go to a karaoke bar and everyone’s talking and no one’s paying attention to you — that can be a downer,” he said. “But here, everyone’s contributing, everyone’s cheering for each other.”
For Mulia, the league also offers a creative outlet during Hollywood’s production slowdown, when he says opportunities to perform are scarce.
Actor Carlos Mulia said competitive karaoke gives him a creative outlet and a place to find community in a big city.
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Josie Huang
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“There’s not that many auditions," he said. "They’re far and few between, and it can really affect your psyche. So this allows you to just let it all out.”
The L.A. league started in Santa Monica in 2014 before moving among venues around the region and finding its current home at the Good Nite in 2021.
It’s part of United Karaoke, a loose national network with chapters in Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Chicago. The local leagues share a competition format, voting app and a pledge to keep the vibe welcoming.
In the league, friendships spark right away. Mulia hit it off with another actor, Jordan Delgado, who teaches children art at a studio.
They quickly figured out they’re both half-Filipino and grew up with karaoke, a fixture of Filipino social life.
“It is in our blood to do karaoke,” Delgado said. “So yeah, I’m honoring my ancestors in a way by being here tonight.”
Anybody is welcome on karaoke competition nights and invited to vote for their favorite performances.
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Josie Huang
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Delgado loves to perform but says the karaoke league promises more than that.
“It’s something to look forward to in the downtime of the part-time jobs,” Delgado said. “A reason to regularly meet up with people, where we could just be silly, without any judgment.”
For her league debut, Delgado is going with a tried and true crowd-pleaser.
“My go-to song that my friends and family have heard me sing a billion times is ‘You and I’ by Lady Gaga," Delgado said. "It really gets the crowd going.”
When it’s her turn, Delgado bounds onto the tiny stage up front with a big confident smile that matches a powerful voice.
“We got a whole lot of money, but still pay rent,” Delgado sings, striding across the tiny stage to whoops and cheers.
Several weeks after her league debut, Delgado would go on to win best performer during Graveyard Week, when the league revives songs so overdone they’re normally off-limits.
Her winning number? “Shallow,” with Delgado singing both the Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper parts.
And she brought the theatrical flair. Dressed as Gaga on one side of her body and Cooper on the other, she was her own duet partner.
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By Jeremiah Dobruck | Long Beach Post, Dañiel Andres Martinez
Published October 31, 2026 1:34 PM
A sign a Rosies Dog Beach in Long Beach warn visitors of the contaminated water. Photographed at Rosie's Dog Beach on Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022 in Long Beach, CA.
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Myung J. Chun
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
All coastal waters in Long Beach — including beaches, lagoons and bays — remain closed Sunday, after health officials say 29,000 gallons of sewage spilled out of a mainline pipe in Belmont Shore on Friday evening.
What happened: The spill happened around 6:30 p.m. near Livingston Drive and Second Street, according to a statement from the city’s Health Department.
The latest update: City crews tried to catch as much sewage as possible before it reached drainage systems that led to the ocean, but about 14,000 gallons ultimately reached the sea, forcing Long Beach to close its coastal waters.
All coastal waters in Long Beach — including beaches, lagoons and bays — remain closed Sunday after health officials say 29,000 gallons of sewage spilled out of a mainline pipe in Belmont Shore on Friday evening.
Joy Contreras, a public information officer with Long Beach Utilities, told LAist that emergency repairs to the sewer main were completed Saturday night.
"The Utilities Department will investigate the cause of the force main break, as a break of this magnitude is extremely rare," Contreras said Sunday.
Water quality testing, Contreras said, will resume on Monday. The Long Beach Health Department, she said, will determine when swimming areas will reopen once samples meet State water quality standards.
What happened
The spill happened around 6:30 p.m. on Friday near Livingston Drive and Second Street, according to a statement from the city’s health department.
“The spill was associated with a force main break, a pressurized pipe to convey wastewater,” according to the statement. There was no word on what caused the break.
Long Beach Utilities stopped the spill by rerouting sewage to bypass the line.
City crews tried to catch as much of the sewage as possible before it reached drainage systems that led to the ocean, but about 14,000 gallons ultimately reached the sea, forcing Long Beach to close its coastal waters.
History of sewage spills
Long Beach is no stranger to beach closures because of sewage spills, but it most commonly happens when sewage flows down the Los Angeles or San Gabriel rivers from upstream cities. Over one recent five-year span, local beaches were closed for 63 days because of upstream spills.
State law requires the closures any time sewage makes its way to the coast until testing shows the water meets quality standards. These rigorous rules don’t hold true for all types of spills.
