In 1781, Los Angeles was founded as a small village measuring 28 square miles on the banks of the Los Angeles River. The LA river provided much needed water to the city from the Owens River basin. LA's railroad connection would make it an important interchange during the California Golf Rush in 1949.

In the early 20th century LA grew to become a proper city by annexing its neighbors and dredging a deep water harbor. The city quickly tripled in size. Between 1922 and 1928, 34 unincorporated areas and five cities merged to create modern Los Angeles.

Following land use regulation trends in the larger US, Los Angeles adopts Euclidean zoning. The city divides itself into five zones: single family, non-residential, industrial, harmful industrial, and unlimited. Zoning places quiet residential enclaves away from industrial uses. This change makes low-density residential more popular among homeowners.

Los Angeles develops as a car-centric city building highways that stretch in every direction. Loosely connected settlements comprise the city. Work, recreation, and shopping opportunities lie throughout the city, creating a decentralized structure with little connection to its central business district.

The Los Angeles Homeless Services annual count for 2020 revealed a 12.7 percent increase in homelessness for Los Angeles County from 2019 to 2020. The city of Los Angeles saw a 14.2 percent increase.

An estimated 82,955 people became homeless during 2019. During the same time span, 22,769 people were placed into housing, through the county’s homeless services system, and an estimated 52,686 people “self-resolved” out of homelessness. This left more than 66,000 people homeless at the beginning of 2020.

Among Angelinos without a fixed address, approximately 6% are veterans. African Americans make up 34% of Los Angeles County's homeless population – a disproportionate amount compared to the percentage African Americans found in Los Angeles County's total population (~ 8 percent).

The largest concentrations of homelessness in 2020 were in the Metro (Central) Los Angeles region (26%), South Los Angeles region (20%) and San Fernando Valley region (14%). Most people experiencing homelessness are from the Los Angeles area and stay in or near their last fixed address.

• Private - land is held by an individual or group who have the right to deny access to their property.

• Communal - community members have a common right to the land.

• State - property rights belong to the public sector.

• Open access - specific land rights are not assigned to anyone, so no one can be excluded from the land. This includes: rangelands and forests.

• Shared equity - programs that create long-term, affordable homeownership opportunities by imposing restrictions on the resale of subsidized housing units.

• Community land trusts (CLT) - The land trust purchases a property and retains the land while selling the dwelling unit. This lowers the price of the unit and allows its owners to build equity.

• Community ownership - land is owned in common by the community. The community charges less than market rate for housing.

Starting in 1970, three major forces caused housing prices to increase dramatically: land use restrictions limiting housing density (zoning many areas to single-family homes, or to at most two stories), increased concern for the environment (which led to environmental laws and designating land for preservation and not development), and community involvement in the development process (which allows current—but not future—residents a say in land use decisions. How does one fix the social housing problem in Los Angeles?

1. LA’s population will soar over the next few decades, increasing the demand for existing and new housing and hence, LA should up-zone parcels zoned for single-family homes in order to provide enough land to accommodate future growth.

2. If the City increases the amount of land available for investors to build apartments houses, real estate developers will leap at the opportunity to speculate. Hence, there should be a restriction on speculative real estate construction.

3. Support organizations that create social housing.