A GENTRIFICATION CAUTIONARY TALE

The Garcetti-fication of Los Angeles: A Gentrification Cautionary Tale

FEBRUARY 2019 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Housing Is A Human Right thanks Coalition to Preserve L.A. Executive Director Jill Stewart and Communications Director Ileana Wachtel for their contributions to this report.

Housing Is A Human Right, based in Los Angeles, is the housing advocacy division of AIDS Healthcare Foundation—the world’s largest HIV/AIDS medical-care organization, serving more than one million people in 43 countries. Throughout the U.S., AHF patients have been negatively impacted by rising housing costs and gentrification, which threatens their health. Housing Is A Human Right advocates for stronger tenant protections, fights gentrification, and advances progressive housing policies. For more information, go to the website housinghumanright.org.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

This report was researched and written by Patrick Range McDonald, special investigator, Housing Is A Human Right. McDonald was an award-winning investigative journalist at L.A. Weekly, receiving the “Journalist of the Year” award from the Los Angeles Press Club and “Public Service” award from Association of Alternative Newsmedia, among other honors. TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Garcetti-fication of Los Angeles: A Gentrification Cautionary Tale

I. Los Angeles as a Cautionary Tale 1-5 II. The Foundation for a Gentrification Crisis 6-10 III. A Gentrification Template for a New L.A. 11-13 IV. A Wave of Gentrification 14-23 V. A Gentrified L.A. 24-28 VI. An Opportunity to Lead 29-31 I.

Los Angeles as a Cautionary Tale

Downtown Los Angeles at Dusk Outside Los Angeles City Hall, on an the city’s land-use regulations and then overcast summer evening in 2017, Mayor approving developers’ requests for general Eric Garcetti stood on a blue-carpeted plan amendments, zone changes, and other stage, flanked by City Council members, entitlements—Garcetti and the City Council and smiled broadly. It was a big day. In had turned L.A. into a lucrative paradise for front of several thousand people, with a right real estate investors and developers, where hand raised, Garcetti had just been sworn they could construct anything they wanted, in for a second term as mayor of the nation’s wherever they wanted. second largest city. AECOM, a multinational engineering firm, and Westfield Property “The planning process in the city of L.A. has Management, a global real estate company, gotten out of balance,” former L.A. City each contributed $50,000 to help pay Planning Commissioner Mike Woo told the for the high-powered ceremony. In the Los Angeles Times in 2017. “There shouldn’t audience, Garcetti’s political patrons stood be so many requests for discretionary clapping, many of them snapped pictures. decisions moving through the system.” The mayor acknowledged the crowd with a quick thumbs up, and then launched into a With spot-zoning approvals in hand, florid, 20-minute speech. upscale developers such as Colony Holdings, Kanon Ventures, Carmel Partners, Eyeing a teleprompter, Garcetti spoke and Merlone Geier Partners were free to grandly. L.A., according to the mayor, was build immense luxury-housing complexes in now “freer, safer, prouder.” The public’s faith middle- and working-class neighborhoods in L.A. government had been restored. The in Koreatown, South L.A, and the San self-centered, self-serving culture at City Hall Fernando Valley, where a chain reaction had been changed. Homelessness and rising of skyrocketing rents, displacement, and rents were problems, he acknowledged, gentrification would undoubtedly explode. but building up L.A. would provide many solutions, making “our dreams” come true. “Los Angeles,” Garcetti said with a grin, “By 2018, L.A.-area renters “we are builders, and we have begun that shelled out a staggering work—and we mean to keep at it.” It was perhaps the most accurate claim in his entire $40.4 billion to keep roofs inaugural address. over their heads” Of all the promises Garcetti had uttered over the years, unleashing a tidal wave It was as if City Hall had reverted to a of high-end development was the one Wild West outpost, where deep-pocketed pledge he had most made good on. By developers with high-priced lobbyists repeatedly indulging in a controversial routinely shelled out campaign cash to practice known as “spot zoning”—ignoring the mayor and council members while the 2 politicians returned the favor with spot- evictions, unwanted displacement, and zoning approvals—a sketchy arrangement sudden homelessness. People’s worlds were known as “pay-to-play.” In 2019, an FBI collapsing—and a humanitarian crisis was corruption probe, which first focused on unfolding. L.A. Councilman and Planning and Land Use Management Committee Chairman “Los Angeles has proven that it is not yet Jose Huizar and then expanded to other able to practice development without government officials, would rock City Hall. displacement,” the Los Angeles Tenants Union declared 2017. “Imagined housing During Garcetti’s first mayoral term, glass- construction of the future relies on today’s and-steel luxury-housing towers and practices of mass eviction and harassment.” gigantic, market-rate apartment complexes started to pop up all over L.A.—and By the end of 2017, the median rent for developers and real estate investors, who a one-bedroom in L.A. was a whopping had contributed millions in campaign cash $2,200, ranking the city sixth among the to Garcetti and City Council members over top 10 U.S. metropolises with the highest the years, were raking in billions. By 2018, median rents. Between July 2013 and July L.A.-area renters shelled out a staggering 2017, during Garcetti’s first term in office, $40.4 billion to keep roofs over their heads. landlords utilized a little-known state law, Curbed L.A., a real estate site, noted, “By the 1985 Ellis Act, to evict tenants in 4,869 comparison, that’s more than 423 of the rent-controlled units, according to the companies on the most recent Fortune 500 Coalition for Economic Survival and Anti- list earned in yearly revenue.” Eviction Mapping Project. With an average household size of 2.8 persons in L.A., that’s Garcetti’s “build, baby, build” agenda was at least 13,633 people who were forced out eagerly embraced by City Council President of their homes. Herb Wesson, Councilman Huizar, and nearly all of the other council members. Overall, the L.A. Times found that between But it wasn’t executed without devastating 2001 and 2016, a stunning 20,000 rent- consequences. The mayor didn’t use his controlled units had been yanked off the inauguration to go into the disastrous market. “Looking to cash in on a booming details, but housing justice and tenants real estate market,” the Times reported, “Los rights groups knew what was happening. Angeles property owners are demolishing Even City Hall databases, created by the an increasing number of rent-controlled mayor’s “innovation team,” showed what buildings to build pricey McMansions, was emerging. Middle- and working-class condos and new rentals, leading to Angelenos, particularly people of color hundreds of evictions across the city.” and immigrants, were getting slammed by a citywide gentrification crisis. And From 2016 to 2017, L.A.’s homeless with that came soaring rents, record-high population spiked by 16 percent: 33,138 3 “Gentrification was Peter Moskowitz, who wrote the well- regarded book How to Kill A City: ravaging Los Angeles ... Gentrification, Inequality, and the Fight for and Garcetti and the City the Neighborhood, argue that developers and real estate investors are now leading the Council were aggressively gentrification charge. fueling it” “To explain gentrification according to men, women, and children were living the gentrifier’s preferences alone,” Smith on the streets—and homeless advocates wrote in his landmark book The New Urban believed the real number was much larger. Frontier: Gentrification and the Revanchist The Los Angeles Community College City, “while ignoring the role of builders, District, for example, found that 19 percent developers, landlords, mortgage lenders, of its 230,000 students had been recently government agencies, real estate agents— homeless in 2017. Even worse, more than gentrifiers as producers—is excessively 1,200 homeless people had died on the narrow. A broader theory of gentrification streets of L.A. County between 2017 and must take the role of the producers as well 2018. as the consumers into account, and when this is done it appears that the needs of Gentrification was ravaging Los Angeles— production—in particular the need to earn in 2018, the Downtown L.A. ZIP code profit—are a more decisive initiative behind 90014 was ranked by RENTCafe as the gentrification than consumer preference.” most gentrified neighborhood in the entire nation. And Garcetti and the City Council, Lured by favorable local and state through their backroom land-use policies, government policies such as tax subsidies, were aggressively fueling it. They were, in zone change approvals, and entire rezoning fact, engaging in government-sanctioned of neighborhoods, developers and real gentrification. It was something the media estate investors jump into inexpensive urban often overlooked, and many Angelenos areas before younger people gentrify a didn’t fully understand. community—after all, properties will be less expensive. Developers, with the help In L.A., and other U.S. cities, younger of local and state politicians, then fire up people looking for a cheap neighborhood gentrification themselves with their luxury- to live are no longer the underlying force housing complexes and top-dollar rents. in gentrifying middle- and working- Other landlords in the neighborhood class communities. The media still frames invariably follow suit, jacking up rents— gentrification that way, but noted scholars, one way or another—at their apartment such as the late Neil Smith, the prominent buildings. anthropology and geology professor, think that’s outdated. Smith and author “The policies that cause cities to gentrify 4 are crafted in the offices of real estate gentrification fears, although not surprisingly, moguls and in the halls of city government,” Garcetti seems amenable to Wiener’s Moskowitz writes in How to Kill A City. “The legislation. coffee shop is the tip of the iceberg.” But the battle over SB 50 was more than a The author could have added the corridors year away. At the end of his inauguration of state government. In late 2018, California speech, as the sky grew dark, Garcetti State Sen. Scott Wiener introduced SB boasted that Los Angeles is a “paradise.” 50, a statewide, real estate deregulation In truth, the nation’s second largest city had bill that housing activists fear will worsen become a high-profile cautionary tale about gentrification crises in cities. Activists have modern-day gentrification in California long been wary of Wiener, who relies and throughout the United States—and how heavily on campaign contributions from politicians vigorously push it through. It’s a developers, landlords, and other real estate story that took place over years and often players to get elected and stay in power. behind closed doors, but can no longer be He consistently pushes a “trickle-down,” ignored. Too many lives—in L.A. and across luxury-housing agenda, spinning it as a way the country—hang in the balance. to address California’s housing affordability crisis, although Big Real Estate stands to gain the most benefit. Despite activists’

5 II.

The Foundation for a Gentrification Crisis

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti Like many big cities, Los Angeles is run the San Fernando Valley. His father rose by Democrats. In 2001, Eric Garcetti, steadily through the ranks at the L.A. County a 30-year-old assistant professor of District Attorney’s Office, and his maternal diplomacy and world affairs at Occidental grandfather, Henry Roth, was a men’s College, decided to run for L.A. City Council clothing magnate. Eric went to the best in District 13. The young candidate had schools: the elite L.A. prep school Harvard- long been active in Democratic circles— Westlake; Columbia University in New his father, Gil Garcetti, was a well-known York; and The Queen’s College, Oxford, as Democrat who had served two terms as a Rhodes Scholar. The L.A. media became the Los Angeles County District Attorney. smitten with Garcetti’s youth, pedigree, and For the race, Eric billed himself as a strong academic credentials—years later, he would progressive with the soul of a community be tagged the “hipster mayor.” By the end of activist. He promised to fight for affordable the 2001 race, he narrowly defeated one- housing; overhaul the Los Angeles Police time L.A. councilman Mike Woo. Garcetti, Department; and practice a new kind of who lived in a meticulously restored mid- politics that would steer clear of City Hall’s century house in Echo Park that was featured insider ways. in Dwell magazine, was re-elected in 2005 and 2009. It was all the right messaging. District 13, at the time, was a distinctly eclectic area: home “Garcetti quickly landed to working-class families, artists, activists, and union members. Located northwest a reputation as pro- of Downtown L.A., the district included development, with a Hollywood, East Hollywood, Silver Lake, Echo Park, Atwater Village, and Elysian fondness for luxury- Valley. The majority of the population housing mega-projects” was Latino, followed by whites and Asian Americans. Eighty percent of the residents As a council member, Garcetti quickly were renters, and 22 percent of households landed a reputation as pro-development, lived below the poverty line. Over the with a fondness for luxury-housing mega- decades, prominent progressive figures, projects, especially in Hollywood—the including gay rights icon Harry Hay, The world-famous, yet largely working-class Nation magazine editor Carey McWilliams, neighborhood. He backed the massive, and Chicano rights activist and teacher Sal high-end W Hotel at Hollywood and Vine, Castro, gravitated towards District 13. which included 296 rooms, 350 apartments, and 145 condominiums. And he supported Garcetti appeared to have the right kind of the upscale redevelopment of Columbia politics, but his upbringing was not working Square at Sunset and Gower, where a class. He was born and raised in Encino, 20-story residential tower with 200 luxury a mostly white, affluent neighborhood in units now stands. Outside of District 13, 7 Garcetti approved of many other luxury- detail-oriented mind. Known for his caution, housing developments in L.A. Garcetti never undertook something without figuring out the political risks. Hollywood The real estate industry returned the favor. activist Ziggy Kruse once said about Garcetti: Between 2001 and 2013, his entire time “The only time he goes with the community is representing Council District 13, Garcetti when it’s a politically smart move.” received at least $452,908 in campaign cash and other political monies from The former Rhodes Scholar, in other words, developers and real estate heavies, can’t plead ignorant about L.A.’s gentrification according the city’s Ethics Commission. crisis—or claim that he didn’t know his policies Leading developers such as Jeffrey Worthe were fueling gentrification. It’s been quite the of Worthe Real Estate Group, William Witte opposite. Garcetti and his colleagues, quietly of Related California, and Jerome Snyder of and with little public knowledge, helped to J.H. Snyder Company sent sizable checks. trigger citywide gentrification. Abandoning his campaign promise to be a new kind of politician, Garcetti was playing California law requires that a city continually the insider’s game at City Hall. updates its “general plan,” a kind of land-use constitution that sets the rules for developers, Then, in 2006, Garcetti came into real city officials, and residents. In a substantive power: his colleagues elected him way, a general plan protects residents— City Council President, one of the most from runaway luxury development and predominant figures in L.A. government. bad or corrupt land-use decisions made by The council president works closely with politicians. But in October 2005, the L.A. the mayor, moves (or stops) legislation City Council, including Garcetti, discreetly going through the system, and chooses approved a repeal of the municipal code that chairpersons for the City Council required the politicians to update the general committees, such as the influential Planning plan on a schedule. It would be a game and Land Use Management Committee changer for City Hall leaders and developers (PLUM). If Garcetti, for example, for years to come—and it continues to fuel disapproved of land-use decisions by PLUM L.A.’s gentrification crisis today. that stoked gentrification, he could replace the chairperson with a different council It’s the kind of low-profile chicanery member. (That never happened.) pulled off by local politicians that Peter Moskowitz describes in How to Kill A City Throughout his six-year reign as council as a “preparatory phase” of gentrification. president, Garcetti handled the public and “[It] is rarely seen or talked about because media with an outgoing, upbeat personality, it happens so long before most people always trying to make a friendly connection. witness gentrification in action,” he writes, But the smiling face and sunny disposition “but this stage is crucial for understanding masked, in a way, a politically-calculating, gentrification.” This has happened at City 8 Halls all over America, including San that former L.A. Planning Department Francisco, New Orleans, and New York. In Director Gail Goldberg said candidly in L.A., the preparatory phase worked this way. 2008: “In every city in this country, the zone on the land establishes the value of the land. By not requiring themselves to update the In Los Angeles, that’s not true. The value general plan, City Council members gave of the land is not based on what the zone themselves a public excuse for delivering says… It’s based on what [the] developer spot-zoning favors to developers. Since believes he can change the zone to. This is the general plan and its rules are outdated, disastrous for the city. Disastrous. Zoning has L.A. politicians say, the city needs to keep to mean something in this city.” up with the times and they must spot zone. The City Council and mayor ignore the Spot zoning, an effective tool for general plan and approve a zone change government-sanctioned gentrification, or general plan amendment for mega- projects that are not normally allowed to be “The foundation for a built. Community activists abhor spot zoning – a luxury-housing tower can be suddenly gentrification crisis had dropped into a middle- or working-class been laid—and Garcetti, neighborhood, with gentrification soon snowballing. always ambitious, had bigger plans for himself Unsurprisingly, developers and other real estate players are among the top and the city” contributors of campaign cash and other political money at City Hall. Between also fuels “soft corruption” or “pay-to- 2005 and 2017, the real estate industry play.” Since City Council members have forked over at least $4.4 million in something to sell to developers – zone campaign contributions to L.A. candidates, changes and general plan amendments according to the city’s Ethics Commission. – developers have something to buy from Alice Callaghan, a well-known, longtime City Hall. Corruption and gentrification, in homeless advocate in L.A’s Skid Row other words, are intertwined—and middle- neighborhood, noted: “Developers are and working-class residents suffer the bad reaping huge profits by lining the pockets consequences. of City Council members and the mayor while taxpayers are being asked to foot the In 2017, Coalition to Preserve L.A., a sister bill to shelter those made homeless by these organization of Housing Is A Human Right, greedy developers and politicians.” released an investigative report that detailed the widespread pay-to-play culture at City Spot zoning was getting so out of hand Hall. The findings, culled from City Hall during Garcetti’s time as council president documents, showed that upscale developers 9 and their lobbyists repeatedly meet behind even draw in the staff of the City Planning closed doors with City Council members Department), these public officials almost and their staff and the Mayor’s Office; never meet with voters and residents who routinely shell out campaign contributions question the non-transparent meetings and to numerous council members, particularly developer plans.” those serving on the Planning and Land Use Management Committee; and consistently During Garcetti’s six-years as City Council receive the spot-zoning favors they sought— president, L.A.’s general plan was never or, in a sense, bought. updated, the secretive 2005 vote was never fixed, and substantive campaign finance The report concluded: “While non- reform was never passed. The foundation transparent meetings and dinners between for a gentrification crisis had been laid— developers, elected city leaders, and their and Garcetti, always ambitious, had bigger staffs take up an enormous amount of plans for himself and the city of Los Angeles. elected leaders and their staffs’ time (and

10 III.

A Gentrification Template for a New L.A.

Crossroads Hollywood Luxury Mega-Project In 2013, at the age of 42, Eric Garcetti was upscale high-rise boom, the New York determined to become the 42nd mayor of Times reported that, as mayor, Garcetti Los Angeles. He promised to be a “back-to- “planned to eliminate regulations that stymie basics” leader, touting himself as a “problem innovation.” He admitted, “We’re writing the solver” with “proven results.” Those results rules as we go … that can be very disruptive largely involved his work in Council District to people.” Garcetti said some Angelenos 13, particularly the “revitalization” of may be resistant, but insisted: “We need to Hollywood, the neighborhood. Among get with it.” activists, revitalization is a code word for gentrification. L.A. Weekly, the award- Garcetti sounded a note reminiscent of winning alternative newspaper, took a deep Robert Moses, the arrogant and tyrant-like dive. public official who presided over “urban renewal” in New York City after World For a 2013 investigation into Garcetti’s War II. He, too, wrote his own land-use development record, titled “Hollywood’s rules, flattening city blocks and displacing Urban Cleansing,” the Weekly found thousands of people. Talking about his work, that 12,878 people–mostly Latinos– Moses said that one “can’t make an omelet left Hollywood and East Hollywood without breaking some eggs.” between 2000 and 2010, largely due to gentrification. Garcetti represented those neighborhoods between 2001 and 2013. “The City Council over As Garcetti pushed aggressively for more the past several years luxury-housing development, the mass departure took place almost entirely under has completely ignored his watch. It was a shocking revelation. tenants... and are pushing forward a landlord’s What was also disturbing, the Weekly reported, was that Garcetti publicly agenda” declared, at a mayoral candidates’ forum, that Hollywood would be his “template for a Uncritical, the Times appeared to accept new Los Angeles.” Put another way, Garcetti the mayor’s anything-goes philosophy for planned to apply the same gentrification development. But rewriting the rules, usually formula he utilized in Council District 13 to behind closed doors, in favor of real estate the entire city. investors and developers can be disastrous, especially for the less affluent. In the Weekly That would include forcing luxury-housing cover story, Mercedes Cortes, a 61-year- mega-projects through City Hall’s approval old mother and housekeeper, who had been process by using spot zoning—one of pushed out of her Hollywood apartment the key political tools in L.A. to gentrify. because of rising rent, pointedly asked, Years later, in a 2017 article about L.A.’s “When they start to build something, why 12 does the middle class have to suffer for controversial Ellis Act to build luxury that?” condominiums.

L.A. Weekly also revealed that at least 150 Barbara Schultz, then directing attorney of residents of a Hollywood apartment building the housing unit at the Legal Aid Foundation were threatened and harassed by a landlord of L.A., emphasized the importance of who wanted them gone. Most of them were preserving L.A.’s affordable housing Latino. A resident contacted Garcetti, but he stock. “You can never build your way out did nothing. Under threat of being reported of an affordable housing crisis,” Schultz to federal immigration officials, the tenants explained. fled their longtime, affordable apartments, which were then demolished to make way Dennison added that the City Council had for a luxury-housing complex proposed shown “no political will to move forward” by Watt Commercial Properties. The firm’s on a comprehensive plan to preserve rent- employees had shelled out at least $6,850 stabilized units. in campaign cash to Garcetti. In fact, Garcetti and the City Council were For a follow up to “Hollywood’s Urban more interested in finding ways to subsidize Cleansing,” L.A. Weekly examined the developers or give them tax breaks—tools housing and tenants rights records of 2013 for government-sanctioned gentrification. mayoral candidates Garcetti, Wendy Such as the $52-million taxpayer subsidy for Greuel, and Jan Perry. In the article, “Rent billionaire developer Eli Broad, who got the Activists Hit Greuel and Garcetti,” L.A. money to build parking for his Downtown advocates sounded off. L.A. art museum. There are many more examples – Garcetti and his colleagues “The City Council over the past several approved a $30-million loan to developer years has completely ignored tenants,” CIM Group, which used the cash to retrofit Becky Dennison, then co-director of the Los the former Kodak Theater on Hollywood Angeles Community Action Network, an Boulevard. L.A. politicians handed over anti-poverty group, told the Weekly, “and hundreds of millions to developers. are pushing forward a landlord’s agenda.” In the Weekly article, Garcetti downplayed Larry Gross, executive director of Coalition his role as council president – one of the for Economic Survival, a renters’ rights most powerful politicians in L.A. He told the group, said tenants were constantly paper it was up to the mayor, not him, to calling for help. “Our phones lit up in create the political will to push forward a terms of people trying to deal with condo pro-tenant housing agenda. It was a dodgy conversions,” said Gross, referring to the statement. But six months later, Garcetti won practice of developers taking affordable the mayoral election. His time had come to apartments off the market through the do what he supposedly couldn’t do. 13 IV.

A Wave of Gentrification

Mayor Eric Garcetti with L.A. City Council Between 2001 and 2013, tenants in 17,290 teachers, and working-class families? Was rental units in L.A. had been subjected to that lack of interest part of a larger plan the Ellis Act, according to the Anti-Eviction to gentrify as much of L.A. as possible? Mapping Project and Coalition for Economic Was the City Council more interested in the Survival. Landlords and developers had financial well being of developers, who are increasingly used the state law to evict key campaign contributors, than middle- renters and then convert the apartments to and working-class residents, many of whom condominiums or boutique hotels—luxury are people of color? Were L.A. politicians, housing and accommodations for the always looking for ways to beef up the city’s affluent. Given L.A.’s average household coffers, determined to replace lower-income size of 2.8 people, roughly 48,000 tenants Angelenos with richer residents in order to had been evicted through the Ellis Act boost tax revenues? These questions not only during Garcetti’s 12 years as a City Council pertain to L.A. politicians, but state and local member. elected officials up and down California.

The Eviction Defense Network, the Los Yet now that Garcetti, a self-described Angeles Tenants Union, Santa Monicans for progressive Democrat, was elected mayor, Renters’ Rights, and other housing activists he could change things, according to the throughout California have long criticized logic he shared with L.A. Weekly. He was the Ellis Act as a ruthless tool used by the “back-to-basics” mayor who finally developers and landlords that helps fuel held the power to build up the political the gentrification of neighborhoods and the will to improve the lives of hard-working displacement of middle- and working-class Angelenos. Garcetti, the leader of a world- residents. The Ellis Act is another devastating class city, could help fix an inherently unfair, example of government-sanctioned broken housing market. gentrification. “When the housing market is as But Garcetti and the City Council never dysfunctional as it is in many parts of strongly advocated for the repeal of the California,” Dr. Stephen Barton, a former Ellis Act as people were getting evicted by housing director for the city of Berkeley the thousands. Why? As advocates Becky and co-author of a UC Berkeley research Dennison and Barbara Schultz told L.A. brief on rent control, noted, “tenants are Weekly, the City Council was simply not effectively subsidizing landlords with rent interested in preserving L.A.’s affordable payments above what a fully competitive housing stock. market would allow landlords to charge.”

Which raises a number of disconcerting What did the mayor do? questions. Why was the City Council uninterested in preserving affordable Despite community activists’ continual calls housing for seniors on fixed incomes, for action, Mayor Garcetti, City Council 15 President Herb Wesson, and the rest of other destinations. And Garcetti constantly the City Council still did not aggressively traveled to China, Japan, South Korea, advocate for the repeal of the Ellis Act. Mexico, and other places for “trade Instead, during Garcetti’s first mayoral missions” of one kind or another. In 2017, term, another 4,193 evictions took place the L.A. Times raised eyebrows when it through the state law. That’s roughly 11,740 uncovered that the “mayor logged 112 days, Angelenos forced out of their apartments or nearly one-third of his time, away from to make way for luxury condominiums and California over the last 12 months, according boutique hotels. to his public calendar.”

In addition, that number only includes official “A crisis of this level demands 100 percent evictions through the Ellis Act documented of [his] attention, not 66 percent,” activist by the city of Los Angeles. Tenants rights Anne Orchier told L.A. Weekly, referring to activists say illegal and unreported evictions L.A.’s homeless crisis and Garcetti’s endless happen all too often. In the Pulitzer traveling. Prize-winning book Evicted, sociologist Matthew Desmond points out that for every Housing activists believed Garcetti could documented eviction taking place through surely use that same energy, time, and high the court system, there are two unreported profile as mayor of L.A. to lobby hard and evictions. With the 2017 homeless count often in Sacramento on the behalf of some just over 33,000 homeless people in L.A., it 59,000 victims of the Ellis Act. By traveling should be no surprise that the city’s homeless 380 miles to the state’s capital, he could crisis spiked an outrageous 16 percent from do the opposite of government-sanctioned 2016. gentrification. He could push for government protection of millions of renters in L.A. and As an excuse, Garcetti and the City Council other cities throughout California. It would often say that their hands are tied—the be a significant accomplishment. Ellis Act is a state law; therefore they can’t change it. That’s not good enough, To his credit, Garcetti endorsed Proposition especially for politicians who represent the 10, a 2018 ballot measure that sought to largest city in California with nearly four repeal another harmful state law, the 1995 million people. Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. It places severe, statewide restrictions on local rent Garcetti, a well-known jetsetter, frequently control ordinances. (Corporate landlords took five-hour flights across the country and developers shelled out $77.3 million to to Washington D.C. to lobby Congress, successfully defeat Prop 10 in November in person, for goodies. He undertook a 2018.) But his trips to Sacramento to fight very public, and time-consuming, crusade for stronger tenant protections were few, if to bring the 2028 Summer Olympics to they took place at all. Instead, he took out- Los Angeles, flying to Switzerland and of-state trips in pursuit of his own political 16 “Garcetti first waved bringing it up. It was a slight to the numerous grassroots organizations—L.A. Tenants off the valid connection Union, Black Lives Matter, Union de Vecinos, between the Olympics and the Democratic Socialists of America, and others—that make up the “NOlympics” gentrification, saying only movement in L.A. Garcetti then rambled a handful of critics were through the rest of his remarks, mentioned he was a Rhodes Scholar, and refused to bringing it up” say that he would try to keep gentrification agenda: to explore a 2020 run for the White forces in check. By the end of his response, House. Garcetti uncomfortably spinned the notion that the Olympics would help fight Garcetti rarely utters the word gentrification. “gentrification” in public. One international trip was especially telling about how “If we want to address issues of Garcetti handles gentrification—and how gentrification,” he said, in a rare instance he and other big city politicians in the U.S., of publicly using the g-word, “if we want especially Democrats, act awkwardly, to address issues of social cohesion, if almost guiltily, when the issue comes up. want to address homelessness…whether it’s the tax base that comes from the In Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2017, Garcetti economic jobs that are created by the met with the International Olympic Olympics, whether it’s the spirit of that Committee—the mayor desperately wanted moment of pulling together or whether to bring the Summer Games to L.A. But it’s the legacy that we want to have of even there, he couldn’t escape L.A.’s universal access to sports—that’s how we gentrification crisis. At a press conference, a combat poverty; that’s how we address European reporter asked Garcetti to address the gentrification; that’s we address those Angelenos’ concerns that the Olympics issues that today all cities face.” would create a wave of gentrification—that luxury-housing developers and City Hall The one-time Rhodes Scholar knew better. politicians would use the Summer Games L.A. housing activists have been telling as an exceedingly profitable opportunity Garcetti for years what strategy to take to build, build, build all over L.A., forcing to stem the tide of gentrification—and it middle- and working-class residents out of hasn’t involved the Olympics. In essence, it their longtime neighborhoods. The mayor requires a three-pronged approach: protect stumbled in his answer. renters by strengthening tenant protections; preserve existing affordable housing such Garcetti first waved off the valid connection as rent-controlled units; and produce truly between the Olympics and gentrification, affordable housing for middle- and working- saying only a handful of critics were class people. 17 Yet Garcetti has been inclined to pursue Trickle-down housing is based on supply- more of a “trickle-down” housing agenda, and-demand theory: flood the market with which pushes for mass construction of more apartments and eventually rents will luxury housing, to address L.A.’s housing drop. What’s more, proponents say, as new affordability crisis. It’s popular among apartments age, the rents for those units city and state politicians in California and will decrease, too. A trickle-down housing throughout the U.S., but housing activists approach conveniently allows Garcetti believe it’s a disaster. and other politicians to give developers free rein to build as much luxury housing as In 2015, for example, Garcetti was warned they want, shamelessly using the housing by his own housing department chief, in a affordability crisis as political cover to build 2015 Housing and Community Investment more high-end housing. Department report, that L.A.’s luxury-housing overkill had created a huge 12 percent Trickle-down housing, though, is seriously vacancy rate (5 percent is considered flawed. First, it’s common sense that building healthy) in all housing built in L.A. since luxury housing doesn’t directly address a 2005. The housing department found that housing affordability crisis that’s unfolding city officials had approved “150 percent of right now. Second, building more luxury the units needed” by high-earning residents housing in middle- and working-class and “only 37 percent of the housing needed neighborhoods brings a rush of speculative for low-income earners.” (Judging by those investment that drives up rental costs in an numbers, one could say Garcetti and the impacted area. Third, there’s no guarantee City Council were hell bent on turning L.A. that luxury housing will diminish in price. into a gentrified, luxury city.) According to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, it will take some 25 years Urged to create a “more equitable and for the possibility that luxury housing will sustainable housing market,” Garcetti was become more affordable. Many activists further warned by the housing department: believe trickle-down housing is a scam to “The severe lack of affordable housing is help developers rake in more billions. a pervasive problem facing the majority of City residents.” Even Richard Florida, a kind of urban planning guru for city politicians like Zillow, the real estate site, backed up the Garcetti, recently wrote that “the markets— housing department’s assessment, noting that and neighborhoods—for luxury and in L.A. and other cities “very high demand at affordable housing are very different, and the low end of the market is being met with it is unlikely that any increases in high- more supply at the high end, an imbalance end supply would trickle down to less that will only contribute to growing advantaged groups.” affordability concerns for all renters.” 18 Trickle-down housing is the main thrust of California State Sen. Scott Wiener’s agenda. Wiener, a Democrat who represents San Francisco, styles himself as a housing expert. Similar to Garcetti, Wiener has taken boatloads of campaign cash from developers, landlords, and other real estate honchos since he first ran for office, as a candidate for San Francisco supervisor, in 2010.

For his 2020 re-election campaign for the state senate, Wiener has so far hauled in $68,650 from real estate players such as Spieker Realty Investments; Build, Inc; the California Apartment Association, which sponsored the main committee to stop California State Senator Scott Wiener Proposition 10; and many more. With such “Private interests and practices intended political patrons, it was hardly surprising to reclaim urban space to profit a global that Wiener refused to endorse Prop 10, investor class and real estate speculators even though more than 525 grassroots are direct threats to our right to the homes organizations and civic leaders supported it. and communities that we built in the face Supporters included the California Teachers of their oppression. Association, the California Democratic Party, California Labor Federation, the Sierra Club, “Unfortunately, public policies like SB the ACLU, and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. 827 are not a defense, but rather an aid for these oppressive and discriminatory Wiener is now pushing a statewide bill policies and interests. And there is nothing known as SB 50, or the More HOMES Act. courageous, new, or innovative about It’s a reboot of the bill SB 827, which was advancing land grabs and economic killed in committee in the spring of 2018 by exploitation.” a coalition of social justice, housing justice, and tenants rights groups. They were deeply The Democratic Socialists of America - L.A., concerned that the legislation would fuel who also opposed the bill, stated: “SB 827 gentrification up and down California. will result in luxury housing exclusively for the wealthy while displacing and In a 2018 letter opposing SB 827, the Los dispossessing the poor and working class.” Angeles-based Black Community, Clergy, and Labor Alliance (BCCLA), wrote: SB 50 and SB 827 have both been sponsored by California YIMBY, a fake 19 “Trickle-down housing from runaway luxury development and allow upscale developers to build dense, is the main thrust of market-rate—or luxury—housing near California State Sen. Scott transit stops. It also has a somewhat mysterious provision allowing developers to Wiener’s agenda” construct near so-called “jobs rich” areas, a grassroots group that receives major funding seemingly broad term that Wiener has yet from Big Tech executives and political to define. Additionally, SB 50, so far, does support from developers. (Wiener is also not provide the percentage of affordable backed financially by tech companies housing units that developers must build. or their executives, such as Lyft, Twitter, Activists believe Wiener will ultimately and Stripe.) Like Wiener, California propose a wildy insufficient figure that won’t YIMBY refused to endorse Prop 10. come close to fixing California’s housing Understandably, housing activists have been affordability crisis. leery of the YIMBY movement. In an attempt to overcome opposition from That distrust only deepened in 2018— housing and social justice activists, Wiener months before California YIMBY sat on has included temporary (note, temporary) the sidelines for Proposition 10. Outside protections for “sensitive communities” San Francisco City Hall, in April 2018, a under threat of gentrification. But, once peaceful crowd of activists, seniors, and those protections expire, the sensitive working-class residents—many of whom communities—middle- and working-class were people of color—gathered for an anti- neighborhoods—will be open territory for SB 827 rally. Speaking in front of reporters, developers seeking to utilize SB 50. Tellingly, people explained how the bill would ruin the fact that Wiener included temporary their neighborhoods and force them out of protections is a tacit acknowledgment that the city. Suddenly, YIMBY members, who the housing policies in SB 50 will cause a are widely known for using bullying tactics gentrification nightmare. on social media, showed up—and went off. They combatively shouted down the Garcetti, though, appears to be joining speakers. Things got so out of hand that a forces with Weiner, tentatively supporting 77-year-old senior citizen fainted and was a bill that has government-sanctioned taken to the hospital. gentrification written all over it. SB 50 would not only impact L.A., but Oakland, San SB 50, which activists say should be more Diego, and other California cities. accurately called the “More LUXURY HOMES Act,” isn’t much different from its The media, often unwilling to seriously predecessor. Wiener has conceded that. It acknowledge the gentrification threat will override local planning rules that protect inherent in SB 50, often write glowing middle- and working-class neighborhoods articles about Wiener and the bill—as 20 though it were a magic bullet to solve a Garcetti, Wiener, and many politicians, housing affordability crisis. Garcetti, Wiener, in California and across the U.S., have and many reporters—either purposefully or consistently failed to do what Staub with little awareness—refuse to consider the suggests. Perhaps because their political ethics of gentrification. In other words, they patrons—developers, landlords, lobbyists— fail to take into account who will be hurt by would vigorously object. Instead, Garcetti, trickle-down housing bills, spot zoning, and Council President Herb Wesson, L.A. other tools politicians and developers use to Councilman and Planning and Land Use push forward policies and projects that harm Management (PLUM) Committee Jose middle- and working-class people. Huizar, and the City Council kept handing over spot-zoning favors to luxury-housing In response to the grassroots uproar over developers, who shelled out campaign cash Amazon’s plans to build a headquarters to L.A. politicians. near a low-income housing area in New York City, which activists believed would At L.A. City Hall, all spot-zoning and other hyper-gentrify the neighborhood, Penn State land-use requests from developers went University Professor Alexandra Staub wrote through Huizar and PLUM. Once that in a persuasive essay: committee granted approvals for a project, the development went to the full City “Amazon’s move to Washington and Council for a vote. Rarely, if ever, did the New York along with an influx of well- City Council oppose a project once it went paid employees brings us back to through PLUM. After the council gave its the question of how we might apply the ethical concept of utilitarianism to understand the greatest balance of happiness over suffering for the greatest number of people.

“In my view, this number must include the poor and working class. In an area threatened by gentrification, the economic and social costs for displaced residents is typically high.

“To make ethical decisions, we must consider the people who suffer the consequences of rapidly rising costs in the area they call home as part of the ethical question.” L.A. City Councilman José Huizar

21 blessing, the mayor got the final say. It’s hard $1-billion luxury-housing mega-project in to think of a project that Garcetti opposed Historic South-Central. after the City Council approved it. Everyone, from the City Council to the mayor, was Longtime, working-class residents—most of involved in spot zoning—and continues to whom are Latino—were up in arms about be. the development. They believed it was only a matter of time that gentrification will take As a result, developer Carmel Partners, over the neighborhood. “This is modern armed with its spot-zoning approvals, ethnic cleansing,” said a young South L.A. can build a luxury-housing mega-project resident at a City Planning Commission known as Cumulus in a working-class hearing for The Reef. neighborhood in South L.A. Merlone Geier Partners and Goldstein Planting Investments In Koreatown, for developer Colony can construct a sprawling luxury-housing Holdings, Garcetti and the City Council complex called NoHo West next to a rammed a 27-story luxury-housing middle-class neighborhood in North tower, proposed for a working-class Hollywood. Developer Kanon Ventures neighborhood, through City Hall’s received spot-zoning favors from Garcetti approval system. At a 2016 press and the City Council to build The Reef, a conference, community activist and

Map of notable Gentrification anchors in South Los Angeles

CUMULUS CRENSHAW PLAZA USC VILLAGE THE REEF (In Development) (Re-evelopment) (Completed) (In Development)

Est. Cost: Unknown Est. Cost: $700 million Est. Cost: $700 million Est. Cost: $1.2 Billion

22 attorney Grace Yoo said: “It will have wasn’t an exaggeration. Baldwin Hills a domino effect on the rest of the area. Crenshaw Plaza, The Reef, Cumulus, and All of these mom-and-pop apartment USC’s ever-growing campus have become buildings will be swept up by developers. upscale anchors for a massive, rectangular The working families living in them will be gentrification zone in South L.A. One only evicted, and the developers will put up needs to look at a map to see it coming— luxury housing.” it’s almost perfectly set up.

Such precedent-setting, spot-zoning Just south of the 10 Freeway, real estate approvals from Garcetti and the City speculators have been flipping homes Council opened the door for more luxury- in the West Adams neighborhood. The housing projects in other middle- and Reef sits to the east at Broadway and working-class neighborhoods. That wasn’t Washington Boulevard. USC is located lost on Garcetti—or Council President less than two miles away to the south. Herb Wesson. It helped another upscale Cumulus stands to the west at La Cienega developer get what he wanted in working- and Jefferson boulevards. Baldwin Hills class South L.A. Crenshaw Plaza, at Martin Luther King Jr. and Crenshaw boulevards, acts as a kind Capri Capital Partners, a Chicago-based of southern border for the gentrification developer, aimed to build a luxury-housing zone. Everything in between will feel the redevelopment—551 condominiums pressure of gentrification courtesy of City and 410 apartments—at Baldwin Hills Hall’s spot zoning. Crenshaw Plaza. The shopping center in L.A.’s Crenshaw District has long catered During his first term as mayor, Garcetti to the African American community. Except didn’t drum up the political will to help for a handful of affordable units, the middle- and working-class renters. housing will go for exorbitant prices. But If anything he kept steady, or most the developer needed spot-zoning favors. probably ramped up, the political will to spot zone—to rewrite the rules for Working-class residents in the area— developers—and aggressively induce a most of whom are African American and luxury-housing boom. Between 2000 Latino—were deeply concerned that and 2016, the L.A. Times found, the City the luxury redevelopment would spark Planning Commission, whose members are gentrification. At a City Hall hearing, appointed by the mayor, approved spot- one African American activist warned of zoning favors 90 percent of the time. a “gentrification tsunami.” Unworried, Garcetti and the City Council approved the spot-zoning requests in 2018.

But the “gentrification tsunami” comment 23 V.

A Gentrified Los Angeles

Protesters at L.A. City Council hearing Perhaps the most damning evidence Smart City Solutions, a governance and of a citywide gentrification crisis in Los innovation site sponsored by Harvard Angeles comes from an unlikely source: University, wrote that the i-team’s data can the Mayor’s Office. In 2016, with support “inform interventions” by both residents from Bloomberg Philanthropies, Garcetti’s and elected officials. L.A. could be a Los Angeles Innovation Team, or “i-team,” forerunner in the use of technology to slow created two databases: The Los Angeles down, and possibly stop, gentrification. Index of Displacement Pressure and the Los Angeles Index of Neighborhood Change. Each database presents an interactive They clearly show where gentrification is map with a color key that shows low to overwhelming neighborhoods (Downtown, very high displacement pressure and Hollywood, Venice, for example) or “neighborhood change”—another City where displacement and gentrification are Hall code word for gentrification. The taking root (South L.A., the San Fernando i-team, however, doesn’t provide analysis Valley, the Los Angeles Basin). Garcetti’s of the data – that’s left to the public. The 2013 pledge to turn L.A. into a gentrified neighborhood change index measures Hollywood is coming true. gentrification while the displacement pressure index predicts displacement. The displacement pressure and neighborhood change databases have not been highly publicized by the Mayor’s “Lower- and middle- Office, although Garcetti often makes a point of publicly unveiling the city’s income people of color newest tech gadget, such as the “Shake and immigrants are Alert L.A.” app, which warns residents of an impending earthquake. If carried out suffering the worst in properly, the displacement pressure and L.A.’s most extremely neighborhood change databases, which need to be updated annually, could be gentrified areas” used the same way: to notify city and community leaders, who can then move into action to protect middle- and working- The displacement pressure index is a class neighborhoods from gentrification. street-level snapshot of L.A. comprised of essentially real-time information and future The i-team’s databases show not only projections. Garcetti’s i-team looked at neighborhoods that have been gentrified U.S. Census tracts and considered “change or are going through gentrification, but measures” such as change in housing also what neighborhoods are under price projections; percent of households a looming threat of gentrification and that rent; percent of households that are displacement. Chris Bousquet of Data- extremely rent burdened; and the number 25 of affordable properties and housing units change”). Since sections of neighborhoods that are due to expire by 2023. The i-team such as Hollywood and Downtown notes that “displacement pressure factors L.A. have different ZIP codes, those capture areas with a high concentration of communities appear more than once in the existing residents who may have difficulty rankings. absorbing massive rent increases that often accompany revitalization.” Again, “revitalization” is City Hall code for gentrification.

The displacement pressure index shows that every section of L.A.—Eastside, Westside, South L.A., the Harbor area, the Valley, the L.A. Basin—will experience low to very high displacement pressure. Predictably, the database closely reflects the findings in the neighborhood change index. “Very high” displacement pressure shows up in the gentrified neighborhoods of Silver Lake, North Hollywood, Los Angeles Index of Neighborhood Change Downtown, and the Eastside, for example. “High” displacement pressure also L.A. politicians may say the neighborhood appears in South L.A.—smack in the middle change index isn’t, in fact, a gentrification of its gentrification zone with the luxury database. That would not be true. development anchors of Cumulus, The The i-team very clearly states that the Reef, USC, and Baldwin Hills Crenshaw rankings are based on “six demographic Plaza. measures indicative of gentrification.” Those measurements include percentage The neighborhood change index shows change in low/high IRS filer ratio; the degree to which L.A. neighborhoods percentage change in median household experienced gentrification between 2000 income; percentage change in median and 2014—almost the entire time Garcetti gross rent; percentage change of white has served in public office. Using ZIP residents; percentage change of residents codes, it provides gentrification rankings 25 years or older with a college degree for 111 neighborhoods/areas across the or higher; and percentage change in city—number one is the neighborhood with average household size. From here on out the most change/gentrification (described in this report, the neighborhood change by the i-team as “very high change”) and index will be given its proper name: the number 111 is the neighborhood with the gentrification index, or gentrification least amount of change/gentrification (“no database. 26 For anyone following L.A.’s gentrification whites made up the population; where Eric crisis in the news, the rankings are not a Garcetti served as councilman for District surprise. The data not only confirms what 13 ; L.A. Weekly found in 2013, but also what L.A. City Hall has been ignoring: lower- 6. Hollywood (90028): in 2000, and middle-income people of color and lower-income Latinos and whites largely immigrants are suffering the worst in L.A.’s made up the population; another area most extremely gentrified areas. Lower- where Garcetti served; and middle-income white residents are also taking a hit. 7. Chinatown and part of the Arts District (90012): in 2000, lower- The following list shows L.A.’s most income Asians and Asian immigrants gentrified neighborhoods. The overwhelming made up the population; demographics below come from the L.A. Times’ “Mapping L.A.” database, which 8. Another section of Hollywood used data from the 2000 U.S. Census: (90038): where Garcetti once served;

1. Downtown (ZIP code 90014): in 9. Venice (90291): in 2000, middle- 2000, lower-income Asians, Latinos and income whites, African Americans, and African Americans made up the majority of Latinos made up the population; the population; 10. East Hollywood and another 2. Downtown/Arts District (90013): section of Silver Lake (90029): in 2000, in 2000, lower-income Asians, Latinos and lower-income Latinos overwhelmingly African Americans made up the majority of made up the population, along with lower- the population; income Asians and whites; another area once represented by Garcetti. 3. Westlake and part of Downtown (90017): in 2000, lower-income Latinos 11. Silver Lake/Atwater Village/ and Latino immigrants overwhelming made Elysian Valley/Echo Park (90039): in up the majority of the population; 2000, middle-income Latinos, whites, and Asians made up the population; where 4. Pico Union and part of Downtown Garcetti once served. (90015): in 2000, lower-income Latinos and Latino immigrants overwhelming made Other neighborhoods at the top of L.A.’s up the majority of the population; gentrification rankings include:

5. Silver Lake/Echo Park and part 12. North Hollywood/Valley Village/ of Westlake (90026): in 2000, lower- Toluca Lake (ZIP code 91601) and middle-income Latinos, Asians, and 27 13. Los Feliz (90027) Planning and Land Use Management Committee chairman who’s the focus of an 14. Highland Park/Montecito Heights FBI corruption probe. (90042) Huizar is—or was—very powerful. The 15. East Hollywood/Larchmont Square Real Deal, a real estate site, described (90004) him as the “ultimate arbiter of what was and wasn’t built in Downtown. And for 16. Koreatown/Windsor Square/ the most part, he operated by the ‘Build, Hancock Park (90020) baby, build’ ethos.” But in November 2018, FBI agents raided Huizar’s home 17. Elysian Valley/Lincoln Heights/ and council office, looking for evidence, Montecito Heights (90031) according to the L.A. Times, “of possible bribery, extortion, money laundering, 18. Pico Union/Harvard Heights and other crimes” related to Downtown (90006) real estate development projects. The feds were looking at political monies from 19. Glassell Park/Cypress Park/Mt. developers to Huizar. Raymond Chan, one Washington (90065) of Garcetti’s deputy mayors, was another focus in the probe, among others. City 20. Koreatown/Mid-Wilshire (90005) Hall’s pay-to-play, spot-zoning culture—a key aspect of government-sanctioned The gentrification index shows that L.A.’s gentrification in L.A.—was under federal gentrification crisis is citywide. Also, investigation. Huizar has since lost his as councilman, Garcetti represented PLUM chairmanship. five out of the top 11 most gentrified neighborhoods in L.A. On top of that, in Garcetti, who traveled the country to 2018, RENTCafe ranked the Downtown explore a 2020 presidential bid, recently L.A. ZIP codes of 90014 and 90013 said he will not run for the White House. At as the first and twelfth most gentrified a press conference, he told reporters, “My neighborhoods, respectively, in the nation. work is right before me. Who knows what L.A., in other words, is facing one of the the future is?” When the announcement worst gentrification crises in the U.S. came, housing justice groups instantly jumped on social media, urging him to stop The gentrification index reveals something traveling, roll up his sleeves, and fix L.A.’s else. The first, second, and fourth most housing affordability and homeless crises— gentrified neighborhoods (areas in but with solutions that will help working Downtown and Pico Union) are located people, not just luxury-housing developers. in Council District 14, represented by Will Garcetti listen? Councilman Jose Huizar, the former 28 VI.

An Opportunity to Lead

Mayor Eric Garcetti Fueled by City Hall’s land-use policies, Garcetti, no longer a presidential Los Angeles’ gentrification crisis is real. candidate, now has an opportunity. There’s no disputing that. Even Councilman Armed with data from his own i-team, he Jose Huizar, now mired in scandal, can become an innovative leader among once said that numerous parts of the big city mayors by growing a metropolis city have experienced a “mass-scale in a way that protects its senior citizens, change of demographics”—more code immigrants, teachers, people of color, for gentrification. Middle- and working- and many others from displacement and class residents in New York, Detroit, gentrification. Progress is not progress if New Orleans, San Francisco, and many everyone is not included in that progress. other cities in the U.S. and California are dealing with similar issues of government- Among community leaders and activists, sanctioned gentrification. it’s widely believed that ways to combat gentrification include stronger tenant Today, gentrification doesn’t just happen protections; preserving affordable housing organically. It is, more often than not, stock; and producing truly affordable guided by local and state politicians— housing. To do these things, the Ellis Act Mayor Eric Garcetti, L.A. Councilman and Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act Jose Huizar, California State Sen. Scott must be repealed. Wiener, and others—who work closely with upscale developers and other real Also, government should implement some estate insiders. This is something that the form of rent control. Prominent experts media, academics, and the public must at the University of Southern California, understand—and acknowledge. Or else UCLA, and UC-Berkeley agree that rent gentrification will keep roaring, devastating control is a key tool to stabilize California’s lives and fueling housing affordability and housing affordability crisis. It should be homeless crises throughout the country. utilized by politicians in other cities and states. Gentrification is not good. It may improve a neighborhood for the affluent people “The housing crisis requires a range of who move in, but it destabilizes the strategies, [and] moderate rent regulation lives of many more—the middle- and is a useful tool to be nested in broader working-class—who long lived in the strategy,” wrote USC Professor Manuel community and are forced out. And once Pastor, co-author of a highly regarded a neighborhood is gentrified, middle- and report titled Rent Matters. “It has fewer working-class residents can no longer damaging effects than are often imagined, enter. Gentrification doesn’t solve the it can address economic pain, and it can larger problems—housing affordability and promote housing stability. And housing homelessness—that must be addressed in stability matters because it is associated order to have a healthy, just society. with physical, social, and psychological 30 well-being; higher educational Management Committee that is operated achievement by the young; and benefits with integrity and transparency. PLUM for people of color.” committee members, for example, who have taken political money from a In L.A., Garcetti can also drum up developer who seeks an approval from the political will to quickly update the PLUM should recuse themselves from city’s general plan, with residents and voting on that project. The same should go community groups deeply involved in for other council members. the decision-making process; build more truly affordable and homeless housing Garcetti and other big city mayors speak more quickly; bring more transparency to grandly about the sunny, prosperous government; reform campaign finance law; futures of their cities, but those futures and change City Hall’s culture—especially too often don’t include the middle- and in the city’s planning department—from working-class—the janitors, construction one of developer-focused to resident- workers, single parents, college students focused. with huge school loans. Garcetti, as the mayor of the nation’s second largest city, The L.A. City Council president, whether can lead by example—and change that. it’s Herb Wesson or someone else, The time for florid speeches is over. He can champion the same things, along must act. with creating a Planning and Land Use

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32 Published February 2019

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