Practically 4 in 10 renters in Los Angeles County have fearful about shedding their properties and turning into homeless in the previous few years, in keeping with the outcomes of a brand new survey from UCLA. An identical share have fearful that they or their household would go hungry as a result of they can not afford the price of meals.
The 2024 High quality of Life Index, ready by UCLA’s Luskin College of Public Affairs, means that the county‘s renters are feeling significantly intense pressure from the steep value of housing mixed with inflation.
“Everyone feels they’re being squeezed by the price of dwelling, even prosperous individuals,” mentioned Zev Yaroslavsky, the previous longtime county supervisor and metropolis councilmember, now director of the Los Angeles Initiative on the Luskin College. However for renters, that strain is particularly acute, he added.
General, researchers discovered the excessive value of dwelling, particularly housing, is pushing down high quality of life for individuals throughout the county.
This yr, the general high quality of life ranking reported by survey respondents dropped to 53 on a scale of 10 to 100 — tying with 2022 for the bottom ranking for the reason that survey launched in 2016. The ranking for value of dwelling dropped to 38, the bottom rating ever noticed in any class.
Renters reported decrease satisfaction with the price of dwelling and jobs and the economic system than almost each different main demographic group within the survey of 1,686 county residents.
Fewer than 1 / 4 of renters mentioned they thought they’d ever be capable to purchase a house in part of L.A. the place they’d wish to dwell. And about half, 51%, of renters reported being pessimistic about their financial future in L.A. County, whereas 61% of house owners mentioned they felt optimistic.
Pablo Estupiñan, marketing campaign director for the tenant advocacy group Strategic Actions for a Simply Financial system, or SAJE, mentioned the findings mirror his expertise working with tenants throughout Los Angeles.
“Neighborhood members are very involved about going through an eviction or turning into homeless,” he mentioned. “That’s type of been the development we’re seeing, with wages which are fairly stagnant as rents maintain going up.”
Median lease in Los Angeles is $2,083, in keeping with Residence Listing. That’s down barely from final yr however nonetheless excessive sufficient to create important challenges for renters throughout the area.
Earlier this yr, a report from the Housing Initiative at Penn estimated that between 97,000 and 153,000 households within the metropolis of L.A. had been behind on lease as of August 2023. Whereas a lot of that lease debt was gathered throughout the pandemic, quite a lot of it piled up extra not too long ago, indicating that financial strains for the reason that pandemic are difficult renters.
“As a lot as doable, it will likely be simpler and cheaper to maintain individuals housed than to seek out individuals new housing after they’re evicted or grow to be homeless,” the Penn report concluded.
Final yr, there have been greater than 47,000 eviction court docket filings throughout the county, probably the most since 2016, in keeping with knowledge compiled by Kyle Nelson, senior coverage and analysis analyst for SAJE.
Advocates anticipate that quantity might enhance once more this yr, after the final of COVID-era renter protections expired in February.
The survey, performed in English and Spanish from late February to mid-March, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3%.
