by Paul Habibi
Next week, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti will headline the UCLA Anderson Forecast event, focusing on “Solutions for Our City.” He’ll stress the importance of not only attracting employers to Los Angeles, but also preparing our youth for the jobs of tomorrow.
In discussing the employment challenges facing the city, it’s essential to talk about how housing and transit needs fit into the equation. As of 2012, 51.3 percent of owners and 59.8 percent of renters in L.A. County were considered “housing cost burdened,” meaning they spent more than 30 percent of their income on housing. My recent report, the 2013 Livable Communities Report: A Call to Action, commissioned by the Los Angeles Business Council, recommends that the solution for easing this financial burden is to pursue workforce housing developments in less expensive areas that are connected to job centers via transit.
The report – which was released at the LABC's Mayoral Housing, Transportation and Jobs Summit at UCLA – applies a new Livable Community Opportunity Index to identify 104 public transportation stations/areas across the city with the greatest market potential for development. You can find the full report here.
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