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The Influence of Culture and Activism on Social Housing in Los Angeles
The Influence of Culture and Activism on Social Housing in Los Angeles
Adam Costello, Kerri Clayton, Hussain Farwa, Aishwarya Yadally
LOCAL CONTEMPORARY CULTURE
Local Contemporary Culture can be defined as the collection of shared beliefs, values, and attitudes of a particular place in the present time. Contemporary culture is constantly evolving to fit the needs and norms of society, but it is often a patchwork quilt of many peoples from many classes and reflects their shared experiences, backgrounds, and histories.
The local contemporary culture of the city of Los Angeles is a hodgepodge of communities and peoples of various backgrounds and classes. However, some of the universally acknowledged elements of this city include a rich tradition in the arts and entertainment industries, along with its diverse ethnic cultures and economic makeup.
Four aspects of Los Angeles' contemporary culture that are relevant to the Social Housing issue
Four aspects of Los Angeles' contemporary culture that are relevant to the Social Housing issue
The Arts
Creative expression is a vital tool in helping provide a voice for the marginalized, or even simply a method of communicating thoughts, beliefs, and sense of identity. Approximately 4.2% of the United States’ GDP ,or $919 billion dollars per year, is generated by the arts sector. Around $200 Billion of this is generated in LA.
Rising Demand
Due to the perception that cities are the best option for employment opportunities, we are experiencing a massive urbanization movement on a global scale. The county of Los Angeles is projected to increase by almost 3.5 million by 2050, further cementing its status as the largest city, in the largest county, in the largest state in the U.S. As this demand continues to rise, so do prices, manifesting in gentrification and displacement of those who can’t keep pace with rising costs.
Evolving Preferences
In today’s world of technologically reinforced disconnect, and changing age demographics, the concept of the household and what it comprises it must be re-examined in order to provide the housing solutions that people actually want and/or need.
Informal Housing
In no small part due to the contributions of rising demand, displacement, and other factors outside of an individual’s control, housing insecurity is an ever-present concern in every major city of the world. The inability to provide enough affordable housing for all ofttimes leads individuals to setting up their own informal housing situations, and when that is not available, leaves them homeless.
Four aspects playing out globally
Four aspects playing out globally
The Arts
The Arts
Social Housing for Artists
Community building echoes the notion of social housing when applied to artists themselves. The picture to the left is of the Diogene Bivaccourbano in Turin Italy, a residency where artists live communally in trams, for tenures of several months at a time. While obviously not a solution for everyone, this is a successful use of available materials and space to foster creativity, fellowship, and a sense of belonging. Building creative, inclusive communities that target developing artists, who typically struggle to monetize their work during their career development, is a brilliant way to ensure that you will continue to attract the artists who enrich the community they live in.
Art as Social Commentary
Art can be intrinsically linked to the issue of social housing in several ways. First and foremost, art can be a vehicle for articulating the issue to those who may otherwise be unaware. As shown here in the images of “The Wall” by Indonesian artist Aditya Novali. Upon first look at the image on the left, the piece appears to be a desirable multifamily dwelling , however when examined more closely the piece shows a different story: replete with prison cells and extremely tiny living space, that reflect the emerging urban environments in Indonesia’s rapidly developing cities, as well as the failure of public housing to meet those needs.
Art as a Placemaking Mechanism
The ability of art to effect social housing does not end here; however, Art can also be used as a design element for social housing itself. The challenge is to transform the way we think about social housing from a place where people are forced to live into places that people desire to live. This also can change the way the environs surrounding social housing perceive their neighbors, by creating a sense of place through aesthetics, and promoting a sense of community. As seen in the Tetris Apartments, a social housing project in Slovenia (left).
Preferences
Preferences
Communal Living
Preferences change over time and housing is not immune to this trend. There is a growing need for housing options beyond the single-family unit and the multi-family apartment building, along with a growing desire to have other options without losing out on a sense of community and togetherness. The concept of Communal living is re-emerging as a desirable alternative that meets these needs. Whether it is the rise of moving in with another adult roommate to defray costs sweeping the United States’ Major cities or moving into an actual coliving development, people seem ready for change.
Another element of the evolving preferences of housing is the issue of housing the elderly. As modern medicine and life expectancy continue to improve, the proportion of seniors continues to rise (see Left). Various countries around the world have handled this problem in different ways, ranging from nursing homes to multiple generations living under one roof. However, there is a growing need for alternative options in housing the elderly who still wish for independence, but possess additional needs that standard housing cannot provide.
Rising Demand
Rising Demand
For example, Columbia Heights is a historically African-American neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located near Howard University. The neighborhood suffered heavy damage during the 1968 riots following the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., and experienced disinvestment and population loss that lasted into the 1990s. In 1996 a new subway station was built in Columbia heights which also attracted private investments in the area. From 2000-2010 the housing prices in the area shot up by 146 percent which displaced the local population. Now African American population dropped by 26 percent and Hispanic population dropped by ten percent.
Informal Housing
Informal Housing
The rise in housing demand has led to displacement of communities which in turn has given rise to informal housing. For example, the housing in Favela- Rio De Janeiro. Favela, is a slum is located on the outskirts of the country’s large cities, Rio de Janeiro. The lack of infrastructure here has led to overcrowding, rise in crime rate, lack of sanitation and disease. There has been a steep rise in infant mortality rate in this neighborhood.
A solution to informal housing was found in Medellin, Columbia. The population grew from 300,000 people to 3 million in a span of three decades which led to crowding, crime, and lack of sanitation for people living in the area. The activists, business owners, and government came up with different solutions and policies to reduce crime and better the living of people in this area. There was a divide between the city center and the poor community on the hillside which was detached from the city. Cable cars were built from the city center to the poorest neighborhoods on hilltops, which helped hugely in crossing the psychological barrier. The community was developed by building new schools, playground,s and libraries. After the metro cable started in the region, there was growth and development seen in the region along with the government setting up courthouses which reduced the crime significantly.
Four aspects playing out locally - in Los Angeles
Four aspects playing out locally - in Los Angeles
The Arts
The Arts
Culture of LA expressed through the Arts
As stated earlier, the culture of LA has a strong multi-ethnic composition, which is often exhibited in its art. One might say the perfect marriage of these ideas can be viewed in the mural depicted here on an affordable housing project in South Central LA by the artist El Mac. The piece “Shared Roots” was inspired in part by the nearby community-run farms, in an attempt to address the history of “black-brown” conflict in the LA area through finding common ground in their shared history of farming. In addition to the expression of culture through the arts is the added benefit of creating a sense of belonging for the residents in this community by establishing a sense of place and identity.
Articulating Issues
Beyond creating places and creating solidarity, the art scene in LA is not afraid to push the envelope on controversial social issues as well. The “Dear Neighbor” campaign is a collection of murals on bus stops and walls throughout central LA and Venice. Created by 72U, a creative residency, and designed by Showzart, an artist who lives in Skid row, the campaign is designed to draw attention and encourage residents to support housing projects for their homeless neighbors.
Preferences
Preferences
Co-Living in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, like London, has begun to implement various communal living projects around the city, such as this project called Treehouse, which describes itself as not only a place where you lay your head and store your stuff, it is a place and a space to explore through dinners and relationships, partnerships and collaborations, and at times a spoken and unspoken support, nurturing, and inspiration. These communal housing situations are able to offer more affordable housing options by minimizing individual space and sharing as many spaces amongst the community as possible.
Rising Demand
Rising Demand
LA is a world-famous city with a lot of opportunities which attract people in large numbers. With the influx of people, there has also been a rise in the unhoused population in LA. It is estimated that there are a total of 58,936 unhoused people in LA in 2018 and it is 12 percent higher now. The homeless lack housing, access to sanitation, health care, and education.
Informal Housing
Informal Housing
History of Informal housing in Los Angeles
In the 1920s, working-class suburbs like Maywood, South Gate, and Bell Gardens gave poor whites an opportunity to become homeowners and gain economic stability in the era before social safety nets. Many of the homes were cheap and built through sweat equity. This established not only their physical foundation, but also local traditions of self-building, informality, and the expectations that homeowners could do whatever they pleased to maximize their property’s economic potential.
World War II brought a huge influx of workers to Southern California, but home construction had waned during the Depression. The state’s new residents faced severe housing shortages, and homebuilding to meet the new demand took off, along with more informal housing.
The economic downturn of the 1980s resulted in massive layoffs as factories and plants closed. Latinos began moving in as home prices dropped, but these areas still did not have sufficient affordable housing for the growth in population.
In the 1970s and 1980s, L.A.’s southern suburbs entered the third phase of informal housing: An extensive 'shadow market' of unpermitted rental units tucked away in suburban backyards and detached garages. These spaces ran the gamut from converted garages to home additions to bunkhouses in homes. Much of this housing was illegal and violated local building codes and regulations. While informal housing filled a huge gap and benefited property owners and tenants, communities struggled with the density, the strain on infrastructure, and the drain on resources.
As a results of the factors laid out above, Southern California has undergone a widening economic. Income and wealth disparities have, in turn, reshaped the urban landscape. One of the most contentious transformations is the process of gentrification and displacement. Along with growing economic inequality and changing locational preferences of individuals, governmental policies and programs have contributed to this spatial restructuring. A primary example is the massive public investments in the urban rail system and transit-oriented development. A major challenge is ensuring that all segments of society benefit from such actions, not just those who can afford the accompanying increases in land prices and rents.
The migration of people into LA in search of better opportunities and life has led to rapid development in the city and an increase in housing prices. This has forced the working class to be displaced from their own neighborhood and with no affordable housing access they end up on the streets leading to informal housing. The map here shows the areas which have been gentrified and which are more likely to be gentrified.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS AND COMMUNITY ACTIVISM
Social Organizations and Community Activism together can be so fluid that it gets difficult to separate them from each other. Therefore, we looked at Community Activism from two angles: first as a collective effort by people to resist or challenge any form of injustice that is taking place, and second the act of implementing any form of social housing project by an organization or a group of people contributing positively towards alleviating the housing crisis. The understanding of Social organizations is that it could be a form of civil movements, informal organizations or established social entities trying to actively solve the social housing issues.
Global Case Studies
Global Case Studies
Art as a form of Social and Political Currency
Art as a form of Social and Political Currency
LA has a thriving art culture; therefore, we felt it is important to look at case studies where art has been used as a form of social and political currency to shift public conversations and resist housing injustices. One such example is of the projects co-organized by Leslie Dreyer who is a San Francisco-based artist. This picture is from the event when protesters occupied the Airbnb headquarters in San Francisco to show support for Proposition F. For those who are not aware of Proposition F, a ballot measure that would toughen regulation on the short-term rental of residential apartments and homes.
In this art intervention black balloons carrying banners with the words “Displacement”, “Homelessness” and “Pay to Play” drifted to the top of Airbnb’s atrium, as speaker after speaker recounted stories of being evicted and the effects that these evictions have on low-income communities. I wish I had time to show the video but it was iconic with the Airbnb staff watching the protest from upper floors.
Gujjar Nullah, Orangi Nullah and Karachi Bachao Tehreek
Gujjar Nullah, Orangi Nullah and Karachi Bachao Tehreek
A Case Study from Karachi, Pakistan
Moreover, the culture of evictions and displacements has given rise to various advocacy organizations around the globe which brings us to our case study of the Karachi Bachao Tehreek. The word tehreek literally translates to movement.
The background of this activist movement is that two of the many lower-income neighborhoods in Karachi named Gujjar Nullah and Orangi Nullah were being demolished in the name of development, evicting and displacing thousands of families without providing fair compensation.
The Karachi Bachao Tehreek not only protested and demanded the demolitions to stop but also empowered the communities by giving them a voice and assisted in organizing the affectees as well so they could raise their voice against the injustice being done to them. Three of the reasons this movement is important are that:
After months of struggle, the Karachi Bachao Tehreek won the case and the court ruled in favour of the affectees demanding that they must be compensated within a year.
This is a classic example of how an attempt of collective activism brought about the formation of a social organization.
This ties to one of the cases in LA where people in camps were swept out of Echo Park. Even though it is claimed that they were given temporary accommodation, what happens after that ends? Do they camp somewhere else? Do the policies in LA support that anymore? What is the guarantee that they won’t be forced out of their camps again?
Moms4Housing
Moms4Housing
Another example of community activism leading to the formation of social organizations is Moms4Housing, a social organization that aims to unite mothers, neighbors and friends to reclaim vacant, investor-owned properties for the Oakland community, in California. Currently, more than 15,500 units remain vacant in Oakland alone, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data, while 4,071 people are homeless.
Moms4Housing was brought about when a woman with her two children started living on a vacant public property and was forced to evict after two months because it was bought by Wedgewood Properties, a real estate investment company with a history of buying up foreclosed-upon houses cheaply, evicting the tenants, renovating the homes and then putting them back on the market at much higher prices. The community pushed back and forced the company into negotiations and now the same house is used not only as a head office for Moms4Housing but also to house women who have nowhere to go.
Additionally, besides creating a sense of urgency, the remarkable success of Moms4Housing movement include:
Inspired by this movement, a group of Philadelphia activists quietly moved homeless families into vacant homes owned by the Philadelphia Housing Authority and demanded that the residences be given to a community land trust. After months of back-and-forth, the city and the housing authority eventually agreed to hand over 50 vacant properties
A group of homeless people in Los Angeles “reclaimed” about 12 vacant properties following which the Los Angeles activists also demanded that California put its vacant properties to use as shelter for the homeless.
Mom4Housing and Karachi Bachao Tehreek are excellent examples which show that progressives win when they organize.
Local Case Studies
Local Case Studies
L.A. has a number of social organizations working for the welfare of those who are facing housing issues. Some of them are listed below along with their mission statements.
LA Tenants Union
LA Tenants Union
The LA Tenants Union is a diverse, tenant-led movement fighting for the human right to housing for all. We demand safe, affordable housing and universal rent control. We organize against landlord harassment, mass evictions, and displacement. We mobilize for the repeal of the Ellis Act and Costa-Hawkins Act. Our mission is to strengthen tenants’ political power through education, advocacy, and direct action. The LA Tenants Union is an autonomous housing movement funded completely by its members. For unemployed members, that amount is just $1 per month ($12 per year). Employed members pay monthly dues of $5 per month ($60 per year).
Leonardo, East Hollywood Harassment is often the first tactic that unscrupulous landlords use to remove tenants from their homes. For Leonardo Sanchez, the remaining tenant at 5200 Fountain Avenue, life has been a living hell. Leonardo has endured the demolition of sections of his apartment while still living in the unit. His landlord has attempted to break into his apartment with an ax to forcibly evict him with a team of movers, cut off his electricity lines, and damaged his door locks with a drill gun to prevent him from entering his apartment. The LA Tenants Union demands that the city of LA provide real protections for tenants with anti-harassment legislation that penalizes landlords for this behavior.
LA Family Housing
LA Family Housing
Mission statement: Through our outreach and engagement process, LAFH connects participants with housing placement combined with supportive services to help thousands of people transition out of homelessness and retain long-term housing stability. We increase our impact through community partnerships and real estate development, supported by financial sustainability.
With 408 units, LAFH is one of the largest housing nonprofits in the country, transitioning more than 400 people into homes each year. Its beginnings were humble: in 1983, it converted a rundown, 40-room motel in North Hollywood into housing for the homeless. Now there’s a new campus on the site of that old motel that includes a health center, facilities for supportive services, and housing for 49 individuals.
Tina's family lost their home after learning that it was an illegal construction. With her father unable to work due to cancer, they were unable to afford the soaring rent prices in Los Angeles, and ended up sleeping in their van. Then they found LA Family Housing. With assistance from our Housing Navigation team, Tina and her family now have a safe place to call home.
In order for housing to be considered affordable, a family should not spend more than 30% of its income on rent. Thus, a working family needs to earn nearly $42 per hour – or roughly $87,000 per year – to afford the average rent in Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, the median rent is 46.7% or nearly half of median income.
509,404 low-income renter households in the county do not have access to an affordable home.
Art Share LA
Art Share LA
Creates equitable access and opportunity for emerging artists by providing a creative environment for them to live, work, develop, perform, and exhibit. We believe artists, as individuals, must be valued and supported as a vital part of a culturally rich, vibrant community.
HOUSING: Providing 30 affordable lofts relieves working artists of their fear of displacement as they develop their craft into a marketable enterprise.
CREATIVE ECONOMY: Connecting artists to paid opportunities, from selling their visual artwork to public art commissions.
ART SHARING: Providing this 30,000 sq. ft building as a platform for artists to share their work from visual art exhibitions to showcasing performances, we are here to help an artist’s voice be heard.
ALA
ALA
Between 1982 and 1991, ALA created five shared living residences for low-income seniors. Janet translated this concept into a program that matched isolated and financially vulnerable seniors together to share homes.
ALA aspires to provide the highest level of quality programs that are relevant and responsive to seniors' evolving needs. These programs include: housemate matching, shared living, permanent supportive housing, and independent living. ALA pursues its vision using a socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable framework.
Housing Seekers are adults of all ages who may not wish to live alone or cannot afford to do so. They may be retired, employed, or students. They must be mentally, emotionally, physically and financially self-sufficient. Currently, the average age of our Housing Seekers is 65.
ALA acts as an intermediary to screen both providers and seekers, match compatible roommates, execute a roommate agreement and monitor ongoing matches. This program is growing in popularity and the average match lasts 2.5 years.
The Skid row Trust
The Skid row Trust
The Trust is pioneering the latest evolution of permanent supportive housing. Partnering with experienced service providers, the Trust provides integrated case management, mental health treatment, substance abuse recovery, and primary healthcare at multiple housing sites and with more in the pipeline.
The Trust offers more than 1,800 homes to individuals who have experienced homelessness. We apply evidence-based solutions, and our cutting edge buildings and supportive programs give our residents the opportunity to regain dignity, independence, and wellness.
(the Trust) provides permanent supportive housing so that people who have experienced homelessness, prolonged extreme poverty, poor health, disabilities, mental illness and/or addiction can lead safe, stable lives in wellness.
Sources
“Ala Story.” ALA Story | Affordable Living for the Aging, http://alaseniorliving.org/ala-story.
“ArtistsA.” Art Share L.A., https://artsharela.org/artists/.
“Boyd Hotel Apartments.” Skid Row Housing Trust, 2 Sept. 2020, https://skidrow.org/buildings/boyd-hotel/.
“Causes & Solutions.” LA Family Housing, https://lafh.org/causes-solutions.
“Housing Nightmares of Los Angeles.” Los Angeles Tenants Union, 3 Oct. 2017, https://latenantsunion.org/en/housing-nightmares-of-la/#/lightbox&slide=5.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-the-countries-with-the-highest-housing-bubble-risks/
https://www.urbandisplacement.org/los-angeles/los-angeles-gentrification-and-displacement
https://sites.utexas.edu/gentrificationproject/files/2018/10/app4.pdf
https://scholars.org/contribution/family-homelessness-and-gentrification-san-diego
https://qz.com/1381146/slums-are-growing-around-the-world-but-a-city-in-colombia-has-a-solution/
https://www.theactivatedpeople.com/the-serious-issue-of-the-los-angeles-homeless-crisis
https://la.curbed.com/2020/6/12/21288028/homeless-population-number-los-angeles
https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/los-angeles-ca-population
https://www.places-and-spaces.com/en/issue-1-2020/the-charme-of-flat-sharing.html
http://www.urbanitewebzine.com/2019/03/16/shared-roots-mural-by-el-mac-in-los-angeles-california/
https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/housing-solutions-los-angeles/
https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/programs/housing/contemporary-housing-issues/
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