After climbing for the past five years, overall homelessness leveled off in Los Angeles city and county this year, with fewer people living on the streets, according to the annual count by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

The 2024 count appeared to show the effects of city and county programs to clear out encampments. LAHSA estimated that there were 75,312 homeless people across the county, down 0.3% compared to the prior year. In the city of Los Angeles, the number was 45,252, a reduction of 2.2%.

Read more at the Los Angeles Times.

Experience the powerful firsthand accounts of formerly unhoused college students and young adults aging out of foster care.

When teens age out of the foster care system, the combined challenges of independent living can be overwhelming. Join us as we explore solutions that allow them to thrive and the transformative impact of community support on their lives.

Hear from housing innovator Sam Prater (founder of Los Angeles Room & Board) and acclaimed author David Ambroz, recognized as an American Champion of Change by President Obama. Guiding us through the evening is the talented actor, producer, director, and activist Shanola Hampton.

Learn more and RSVP here.

Enjoy an Inspiring Afternoon at the 2023 Connections Count Showcase!

Join us at the Connections Count Showcase for an inspiring afternoon - learn how OCLA's WIN app not only connects those who are homeless to essential services but also and works to break the pipeline to homelessness by empowering those who are struggling to find needed support before they fall into homelessness. Connections Count will be held at the Santa Monica Bay Woman's Club, 1210 4th Street, Santa Monica ( or join us via livestream). This year's Showcase will feature live entertainment - including performers from Urban Voices, testimonials from those who have used WIN to help others and opportunities enjoy wine and cheese as you support the raffle and silent auction!

Learn more and RSVP here.

SAVE THE DATE

Join us for our third annual half-day conference, the Homelessness Summit, on Thursday, June 8th from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

The California Endowment

1000 Alameda Street

Los Angeles, CA 90012

AIA Los Angeles’ 7th in-person annual Design For Dignity conference will serve as a forum to highlight best-practices and pay tribute to the architects, contractors, housing developers, clients, funders, and service providers that are working to deliver housing and supportive services to our communities. This year’s theme will be: “HOUSING SOLUTIONS: What’s working well and why?”

The 7th annual Design For Dignity conference will feature a series of panel discussions and presentations that highlight successful programs, initiatives, and design innovations that the A/E/C community can replicate, improve upon, and expand. We’d like to emphasize housing solutions that can inspire the community and educate policy makers, planners, architects, designer, real estate professions, housing advocates, and civic leaders.

Find out more and RSVP here.

Join Next City for our live Solutions of the Year virtual event series. You will once again be introduced directly to the practitioners and writers highlighted in the “21 Best Solutions of 2021” special issue. Together we’ll explore solutions to the year’s many challenges, ranging from climate action to countering systemic racism. Anyone working for greater justice and equity in cities will be able to take inspiration from this event into 2022.

Everyone who buys a ticket will receive a copy of our annual Solutions of the Year special issue print magazine.

At Next City’s Solutions of the Year presentations, speeches and panel discussions, you will hear from dozens of speakers who made change happen around issues such as guaranteed income, scalable climate responses, collective organizing, small business recovery, anti-racism, and affordable housing. In this time of transformation, our editors have amplified programs and movements that showcase how communities organize to achieve liberation from systems and cultures of oppression. Next City’s mission to elevate positive change matters now more than ever.

This multi-day convening, which includes eight sessions, will frame the conversation for 2022. You can purchase a single ticket now to all of the events for just $50, or register for each event individually. The individual event listings will be published in the coming weeks.

Find out more and RSVP here.

In cities across the United States, affordable housing policies are moving beyond simply building homes for low-income residents. Accessible housing can be the starting point in a drive to advance goals related to climate change mitigation, anti-displacement, equitable internet access and more.

Join Next City Housing Correspondent Roshan Abraham as he leads a panel discussion with city officials from Austin, Boston and New York City to discuss programs in those cities that highlight the Right to Return, net-zero emissions housing projects, and mandatory broadband access in all new affordable housing construction.

Solutions of the Year is a multi-day virtual convening, including seven sessions, that will frame the conversation for 2022. You can purchase a single ticket now to all of the events for just $50, or pay what you wish by registering for each event individually. All who donate will receive a copy of our annual Solutions of the Year special issue magazine.

Learn more and RSVP here.

Call for Action: “House All Angelenos” Panel Discussions

Presented by: AIA LA Government Outreach (GO!) Committee

This is a virtual series of panel discussions. RSVP directly to each zoom link below.

On May 25, 2021 the AIA LA Board put forth a series of concrete recommendations directed at our City’s leadership to facilitate the building of affordable housing and promote social justice. To read the text in full, CLICK HERE.

As a follow up to this “Call for Action,” the AIA LA Government Outreach (GO!) Committee has organized three panel discussions for AIA LA members and the greater LA design community to discuss and clarify the recommendations from the AIA LA board. The three panel discussions will each be led by architects Chava Danielson, AIA, Rick Corsini, AIA, and Tracy Stone, AIA, and will include policy experts, academics, and architects/urbanists.

For more information on each panel, see descriptions below.

Panel #1 = Reinventing Los Angeles’ Boulevards – Finally!
Tuesday, October 26 (8:00am – 9:30am) = RSVP #1 HERE.
Panel #2 = Housing as a Civil Right and Exclusionary Practices: The Way Forward
Monday, November 1 (9:00am to 10:30am) = RSVP #2 HERE.
Panel #3 = Rethinking the Los Angeles Housing Paradigm, or How to Make the System Work For Us, and Not Against Us
Tuesday, November 9 (8:00am – 9:30am) = RSVP #3 HERE.

Join us Thursday, November 4th for our annual Urban Marketplace event!

Urban Marketplace 2021 and 2022 will focus on opportunities to advance equity through infrastructure investments (i.e., transportation infrastructure, housing infrastructure, food infrastructure and water infrastructure) in historically underinvested communities and communities of color and discuss strategies to make a deal and make a difference.

Urban Marketplace 2021

This Fall, we’ll host a virtual panel discussion about strategies to repair past harm caused by infrastructure investments on communities of color and poor communities and utilizing future investments to spur change.

Register today for the Virtual Fall Session and keep an eye out for more information coming soon about the In-Person Spring Session!

Find out more and RSVP here.

Call for Action: “House All Angelenos” Panel Discussions

Presented by: AIA LA Government Outreach (GO!) Committee

This is a virtual series of panel discussions. RSVP directly to each zoom link below.

On May 25, 2021 the AIA LA Board put forth a series of concrete recommendations directed at our City’s leadership to facilitate the building of affordable housing and promote social justice. To read the text in full, CLICK HERE.

As a follow up to this “Call for Action,” the AIA LA Government Outreach (GO!) Committee has organized three panel discussions for AIA LA members and the greater LA design community to discuss and clarify the recommendations from the AIA LA board. The three panel discussions will each be led by architects Chava Danielson, AIA, Rick Corsini, AIA, and Tracy Stone, AIA, and will include policy experts, academics, and architects/urbanists.

For more information on each panel, see descriptions below.

Panel #1 = Reinventing Los Angeles’ Boulevards – Finally!
Tuesday, October 26 (8:00am – 9:30am) = RSVP #1 HERE.
Panel #2 = Housing as a Civil Right and Exclusionary Practices: The Way Forward
Monday, November 1 (9:00am to 10:30am) = RSVP #2 HERE.
Panel #3 = Rethinking the Los Angeles Housing Paradigm, or How to Make the System Work For Us, and Not Against Us
Tuesday, November 9 (8:00am – 9:30am) = RSVP #3 HERE.

Call for Action: “House All Angelenos” Panel Discussions

Presented by: AIA LA Government Outreach (GO!) Committee

This is a virtual series of panel discussions. RSVP directly to each zoom link below.

On May 25, 2021 the AIA LA Board put forth a series of concrete recommendations directed at our City’s leadership to facilitate the building of affordable housing and promote social justice. To read the text in full, CLICK HERE.

As a follow up to this “Call for Action,” the AIA LA Government Outreach (GO!) Committee has organized three panel discussions for AIA LA members and the greater LA design community to discuss and clarify the recommendations from the AIA LA board. The three panel discussions will each be led by architects Chava Danielson, AIA, Rick Corsini, AIA, and Tracy Stone, AIA, and will include policy experts, academics, and architects/urbanists.

For more information on each panel, see descriptions below.

Panel #1 = Reinventing Los Angeles’ Boulevards – Finally!
Tuesday, October 26 (8:00am – 9:30am) = RSVP #1 HERE.
Panel #2 = Housing as a Civil Right and Exclusionary Practices: The Way Forward
Monday, November 1 (9:00am to 10:30am) = RSVP #2 HERE.
Panel #3 = Rethinking the Los Angeles Housing Paradigm, or How to Make the System Work For Us, and Not Against Us
Tuesday, November 9 (8:00am – 9:30am) = RSVP #3 HERE.

Join us on October 20 for the URI Celebration: Rise Up!  and enjoy an evening of hope, inspiration and community, celebrating the inspiring clients, partners, and supporters who every day rise up and help URI work towards our vision of a world free of domestic violence and homelessness.  Due to the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis, for the second year we will broadcast a virtual event so guests from across the country can celebrate with us from the safety and comfort of their own homes.

Find out more and RSVP here.

With cities in Los Angeles County facing a requirement to build 800,000 new homes over the next eight years, this morning-long event will focus on the lessons that can be learned from coalitions in places such as Seattle, Minneapolis, the East Bay and elsewhere that have achieved political and legislative wins in recent years while strengthening protections for those most vulnerable to displacement. 

Welcome and Introduction: A Housing Vision for the Future — What the housing crisis looks like in data and on the ground, highlighting affordable housing solutions that protect existing communities and promote sustainability, provide good jobs and emphasize community involvement. (30 minutes)

Panel 1: Examples From Elsewhere  — A roundtable discussion featuring representatives of housing coalitions that have successfully advocated for change. (one hour)

Panel 2: Applying the Lessons — Housing advocates and agency leaders examine the unique challenges of L.A. County and how obstacles to inclusive and effective coalitions can be overcome. (one hour)

RSVP here.

The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated the depths of a chronic and severe affordable housing shortage in Los Angeles County, where almost 70,000 people are unhoused. The unemployment rate topped 20 percent just a few months ago, and up to 1.8 million residents lost jobs during the pandemic, one analysis suggests. Explore the magnitude of existing problems, particularly in communities of color, during a session that will focus on solutions that avoid repeating past policy mistakes.

RSVP here.

Stories From The Frontline is an opportunity for people on the frontlines of homelessness to tell firsthand accounts of their journeys. Join us on March 24 as we focus on one of the most vulnerable subpopulations of those experiencing homelessness–women. From exposure to violence and exploitation, to motherhood and more, these individual and their collective stories are powerful and moving.

RSVP here.

A summit focused on addressing the mounting affordable housing and congestion crisis and their effect on businesses and employment in the L.A. region.

A virtual summit experience hosted in partnership with the Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti, the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, and Stuart A. Gabriel, Arden Realty Chair & Professor of Finance, and Director of the Richard S. Ziman Center for Real Estate.

This annual event convenes leaders from all perspectives of the housing debate to address the housing crisis and its effect on employment and transportation in Los Angeles. The summit features panel discussions, keynote speakers, and academic research surrounding this complex issue.

Learn more about the event and RSVP here.

RSVP to get more details!

Our beloved nation finds itself at another historic crossroads in the long struggle for racial equality and liberation. Growing national movements to rectify the twin evils of mass incarceration and discriminatory barriers to employment and housing when people return home from prison have passed model public policies such as Ban the Box in employment and Fair Chance Housing.  As our cities grow more and more expensive to live in and homelessness explodes, what are model public policy solutions that enable people with criminal records to access stable and affordable housing?  As we work to create a more perfect union, how do we not replicate racial oppression in our public policymaking processes by honoring the voices and leadership of formerly incarcerated residents?  What are the myths and stories that society tells us about people with criminal records and how has that prevented us from providing a basic human need and right to housing?

Join us on International Human Rights Day as we engage in dialogue with the people who did the heavy-lifting to create North Star Fair Chance Housing policies!

Visit www.fairchance4all.org for a policy comparison chart of the nation’s North Star Fair Chance Housing policies as well as links to the ordinances themselves.  

Click here for more information about speakers and RSVP here.

Wander through a digital matrix of virtual exhibition galleries at 2×8: Domum, the first year that the AIALA’s 2×8 Student Exhibition and Competition goes completely virtual.

As designed by Garet Ammerman, THR.D studio, Inc, and developed by Bryan Zheng, WbML at USC, the virtual exhibition space offers an untethered immersive gallery experience within a field of equally accessible student pods distributed by a graphic scaffolding.

The 2×8 annual exhibition showcases exemplary student work from 16 Architecture and Design Universities throughout California to celebrate the diversity of architectural philosophy and encourage conversation around a central theme. This year’s theme reflects on the dialogue surrounding housing in Los Angeles and other urban centers across the country. Students were encouraged to submit presentation materials and 3d models that respond to the theme with innovative solutions.

Winners of the competition are award scholarships which will be awarded at the opening November 5.

The exhibition is free and open to the public.

Exhibition Design: Garet Ammerman, THR.D studio, Inc
Developer/UX: Bryan Zhang, Worldbuilding Media Lab at USC

Find out more and RSVP here.

A virtual discussion on the commodification of housing and how to change local policies to improve the health and wealth of communities.

About this Event

Join the 2020 UCLA Community Collaborative for a virtual discussion about the commodification of housing, its impact on the health and wealth of communties throughout LA and nationwide, and the steps we must take to de-commodify housing and ensure it is treated as a human right.

This virtual discussion will feature presentations from groups of UCLA graduate students and community partners on a range of topics.

After presentations, attendees will go into " popular educations breakout" groups for community discussion. To choose your breakout group of choice, select ONE (1) ticket at checkout that corresponds the topic that interests you. The ticket only represents the breakout group to which you will be assigned. You will have the opportunity to see every presentation.

The Pop-Ed portion of the webinar will be discussing a popular education curriculum that was made to support the community's understanding of housing speculation and how it destroys the fabric of our communities. During this interactive breakout session, we will get our creative brain juices flowing on how we can use this curriculum as a tool of resistance and re-imagination post-COVID 19 and beyond!

The topics of the presentations are:

• Shock Response: COVID-19, It's Anticipated Outcomes, and Solutions for the LA Housing Market

We use Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine framework as a lens through which to analyze the connections and similarities between the government responses to the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 crisis, their potential impacts on the Los Angeles housing market, and policy solutions that housing advocates must demand be implemented in order to create a housing system that truly works for all people.

• Housing is a Health Right!

Highlighting the intersection between speculative housing practices and the impacts on public health and well-being. Join us in learning strategies from a health-based perspective.

• Reclaiming the Land: Community Ownership

Making the case for community ownership models as the best path forward for an equitable future. In this section is an analysis on the current housing stock of Los Angeles, income, rental tenure, and at-risk housing, putting the numbers behind the lived experience of many renters across the County.

• Reclaiming our Housing: Establishing the Right to Purchase

Transitioning from a speculative housing market to community ownership and tenant empowerment through a Right to Purchase policy and adequate public subsidy.

RSVP here.

The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is already the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Renters and homeowners who have lost their jobs during this pandemic are facing down an already tight housing market, in which a third of Americans are cost-burdened and minimum-wage workers can’t afford housing anywhere in the U.S. People already experiencing homelessness are struggling to find a safe place to even wash their hands, though without access to sanitation, the coronavirus may spread.

Without swift action, the housing crisis facing much of the country will only worsen, and the pandemic will be more difficult to contain.

Clearly, cities and states must act. But how?

Join Next City housing correspondent Jared Brey on a webinar Wednesday, May 6 at 1 p.m. ET, to explore solutions that cities around the country have already adopted to try to blunt the worst of the housing-related fallout from the pandemic. These solutions could be replicated elsewhere.

On this webinar, Brey will speak with:

Cambridge, MA mayor Sumbul Siddiqui, whose administration has committed to paying local restaurants to make meals for homeless shelters, where volunteers can no longer cook meals because of social distancing requirements.

Philly-based Good Shepherd Mediation’s Sue Wasserkrug, who can speak to how the organization’s landlord-tenant mediation program is helping people stay in their homes and helping landlords resolve disputes with tenants without the need for court.

More guests to be announced

Jared Brey is Next City’s housing correspondent, based in Philadelphia. He is a former staff writer at Philadelphia magazine and PlanPhilly, and his work has appeared in Columbia Journalism Review, Landscape Architecture Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, Philadelphia Weekly, and other publications.

This webinar is pay what you wish to register. Pay any amount that you would like or nothing at all. Those who become sustaining members of at least $10 a month, or who make a one-time donation of at least $60, may choose to receive a copy of “Black in Place.” Donations made for this webinar will go toward our 2020 Urban Affairs Journalism Fellowship Program. We only need to raise $8,000 to ensure this program’s success. Your donation today will go directly toward paying an intern’s stipend and managing the program. A video of the webinar will be made available to those who register.

View online details here and RSVP.

The COVID-19 Pandemic has exposed how tenuous life is for working class and poor people in wealthy countries like the United States. As record numbers of people file for unemployment, we are likely to see a tidal wave of displacement. While the federal stimulus package favors corporate bailouts, tenants are demanding rent cancellation. Calls for rent strikes have grown throughout the country as tenants organize their buildings to collectively withhold payments. Unaffordable rents, a homelessness epidemic, and decaying public housing have long been the reality of American cities, and now as the economy goes into crisis, the battle over the future of land and housing has become more pitched than ever.

In her recent book Urban Warfare: Housing Under the Empire of Finance, Raquel Rolnik of the University of São Paulo, a former planning official in Brazil and former UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, tells the story of how finance reoriented housing from a social policy objective to a business opportunity. Real estate has colonized the world, provoking mass displacement, poverty, and environmental destruction. While the profit-driven model of housing marches toward a new crisis, social movements all over the world are waging a common struggle for housing justice.

Join NYC-DSA, Verso Books, the Urban Democracy Lab, and others for a discussion of the origins and limits of this housing model in this time of crisis, and how working people can fight back to win decent housing and a liveable future for all. Dr. Rolnik will discuss these topics with Daniel Aldana-Cohen, co-author of A Planet to Win, Why We Need a Green New Deal and Director of the Socio-Spatial Climate Collaborative at the University of Pennsylvania, who will discuss why a Green Stimulus and a Green New Deal is necessary to overcome this crisis and how it can empower both housing and climate activists. With presidential candidates like Bernie Sanders supporting activist demands for a Homes Guarantee and a Green New Deal, Housing Justice for All campaign coordinator Cea Weaver will moderate a discussion on what it will take to achieve such transformational change.

RSVP here.

Presented by the Institute on Inequality and Democracy at UCLA Luskin, Global Public Affairs at UCLA Luskin, and the UCLA Department of Geography.

Join us for a series of conversations with housing justice scholars and activists from Vancouver and Los Angeles. The Right to Remain Collective, based in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, works to preserve the city’s vital reserve of existing affordable housing stock – single room occupancy hotels, or SROs. Visiting members of the Collective will be in conversation with Los Angeles-based organizers and researchers.