We want the Westside of LA to have enough homes for everyone who works, lives, and loves here.

Get Involved

Here’s why housing matters on the Westside.

  • The Westside Needs More Homes

    Across LA, we need to build 500,000 affordable homes for low-income people and a million homes overall in order to meet Angelenos’ need for homes to live in.

    Here on the Westside, our service workers, teachers, nurses, students and seniors are trying hard to keep up with the cost of housing. Some have already left the area due to rising rents; others have to commute from long distances for work or to take care of family members. We are also affected by issues like carbon emissions as a result of traffic.

    We think LA needs more homes of all shapes and sizes - apartments, ADUs, and all kinds.

    (Sources: California Housing Partnership, Abundant Housing La)

  • How We Got Here

    50+ years of state and local policy in California has created this situation. Now is the time to solve this problem.

    Exclusionary zoning is a present-day manifestation of segregationist policy (redlining) which was designed to limit where people of color and low-income people can live. Today, the lack of enough homes pushes working people out and results in more gentrification of neighborhoods with less resources.

    (Sources: CalMatters, CA Legislative Analyst’s Office, University of Southern California)

  • Housing Costs Cause Homelessness

    Housing and homelessnes issues are fundamentally entwined.

    Rents have risen 65% in the past decade, and a third of LA households pay more than 50% of their household income in rent.

    When you don't have enough housing, wealthier people are the ones who can compete for a higher price tag and those with less money get squeezed out.

    (Sources: University of Southern California, LA Times, RentCafe)

Westsiders agree that we want a community where each of us can thrive.

 

That’s why we’re coming together to make sure that our voices are heard by leaders in LA.

We understand that together, our voices and actions can help ensure that the westside remains a livable community.

Solutions

Here is the vision we share for improving housing on the Westside.

  • As LA neighborhoods see multi-million dollar single family homes rise, it has become increasingly obvious that we need to build more homes of different shapes and sizes given the housing shortage and high demand.

    We need to allow more kinds of housing to be built around the Westside - especially since buildings with more units allow for more affordable homes.

  • Communities are more vibrant and accessible when they are designed in a way that makes it more convenient to take transit, walk, bike or roll than to drive.

    Not only does this reduce our carbon footprint, but it makes sure that people who cannot afford cars or are not physically able to drive can still access resources and get around.

  • People deserve stable housing. As rents rise, people who live here need to feel securely housed. We support strong tenant protections to keep renters safe from housing instability.

  • We want LA and California government to help fund and streamline the creation of affordable housing units so that we can make sure that all Angelenos have a place to sleep at night.

 

How we make change.

 

Advocate for policy change

One of the reasons housing is hard to fix is because it’s hard to understand all of the details! We start by teaching each other about the policies that affect housing issues and the potential solutions.

If our members agree that a specific piece of legislation is worth supporting, then we will actively advocate for it by making phone calls, writing letters of support, and meeting with legislators.

Support Pro-Housing Candidates

For too long, LA’s political leaders have shied away from solving the upstream problems causing our housing crisis because they have feared pushback from wealthy, white voters.

We support candidates who will take bold action to make sure LA’s housing future is finally fixed.

Check out our candidate endorsements here.

Show support for new affordable housing projects

One of the frustrating things about LA is that basically all multi-family housing projects have to go through a long, burdensome set of reviews and approvals before they can get built, which adds to the cost and timeline.

We try to make sure that great affordable housing projects receive public statements of support at city and neighborhood council meetings and other public hearings. This helps to ensure that the people vetting those projects know it has strong community support.

We’re proud to support the West LA Commons project which will add 200+ affordable units, the Reese Davidson project which is creating 35 permanent supportive housing units, and the Venice Dell project which is creating 100+ affordable and supportive housing units.