Earlier this week, Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-Calif.), U.S. Representative of the 37th Congressional District of California, served as the keynote speaker for the inaugural UCLA Levine Summit on Affordable Housing. As recent headlines suggest, and many southern Californians know firsthand, homeownership is in decline, rents continue to rise and the median income doesn’t afford people the ability to live in Los Angeles. Congresswoman Bass addressed these issues and discussed programs for home ownership and renters.
An expert panel discussion followed the Congresswoman’s address, which was led by Lance Bocarsley, UCLA Law adjunct professor of affordable housing transactional law and a transactional attorney who specializes in bond funding and tax credits for housing. Panelists represented a range of industries and included Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell of Los Angeles, 13th District; Bill Witte, chairman and CEO of Related California; Ann Sewill, vice president of housing and economic development at California Community Foundation; and Joan Ling, lecturer in urban planning at UCLA.
The discussion covered topics including leveraging the strength of the market to produce more mixed income housing, the necessity for minimum wage increases to help ensure renters have enough money to rent affordable housing, policy changes at the federal level and additional tools, tax credits and tax exempt bonds to support growth. For more on Los Angeles’ housing crisis, read the Ziman Center’s UCLA Economic Letters: (July 2014) A Rent Crisis with Deep Roots: Why L.A. is the Most Unaffordable Market in the U.S. and (September 2014) Density Without Dingbats: L.A.'s Housing Crisis Solutions Are Right In Its Own Backyards. Download the report (pdf) from the 2014 UCLA Levine Summit: Toward Building an Affordable Housing Agenda.
The Howard and Irene Levine Program in Housing and Social Responsibility and the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate hosted the event. The Levine Program addresses timely and critical issues related to urban housing markets, as well as housing policy and sustainability, particularly the housing needs and outcomes of low-income and workforce households.
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