DISTRICT 4 Newsletters

Why are LA leaders voting to continue our housing crisis? 

Dear friend,

Los Angeles is in an extreme housing crisis: we have some of the most expensive real estate in the country. We have some of the highest rents and many of the most rent burdened people in the entire country, and tens of thousands of evictions are filed in the city every year. We have an enormous homeless population, and the largest number of unsheltered homeless people by far across the entire US. 

At its root, this is a crisis of our own making. For decades in Los Angeles, racial covenants restricted Black, Asian, and other non-white Angelenos from buying homes in many neighborhoods, segregating the city. Federal mortgage policy mandated that more diverse neighborhoods were not eligible for investment, reducing the quality of housing and resources in these areas. Finally, a powerful slow-growth movement led by Valley and Westside homeowners worked to prevent the construction of more multifamily housing in the city, working with a new group of local elected officials who saw that being anti-development made for good politics in LA. As a result of these policies, we now have a deeply segregated city with inequitable access to resources, and a housing shortage that exacerbates the impacts of that segregation. 

This housing shortage has impacted our city’s vitality – working age people and young families are leaving the city because they cannot afford to live here anymore. To address this crisis, the State of California mandated that Los Angeles write a new zoning plan called the Housing Element that added capacity for another 456,000 units to meet our housing demand. Of those units, nearly 200,000 were meant to be affordable for low-income households. 

This month, Council voted on this new citywide rezoning plan, produced in response to the state’s mandate. Unfortunately, this plan simply does not do enough to address our existing housing crisis. While the plan adds the required new zoned capacity, independent research found that the city’s new plan does not have the incentives and coverage required to actually generate desperately needed units. Indeed, we’re likely to fall far short of our goals. 

Even worse, the plan concentrates all new housing construction only where existing multi-family construction already exists instead of spreading it across the city. What does this mean for LA? It means that if new housing does get built, it is likely to be built by knocking down existing housing. These older, smaller multi-family units make up what is called our city’s naturally affordable housing stock. They are often rent stabilized units. If successful, this plan will accelerate the redevelopment of these buildings, not preserve them, a direct blow to already vulnerable tenants. In a city of majority renters, this is the housing that we frankly should be looking to preserve, not put a target on. 

In an effort to improve our new plan, I put forward an amendment in Council to introduce some gentle density into select high resource neighborhoods, options that had been studied and mapped by the Planning Department as part of the Housing Element process. This amendment got 5 votes in support, but ultimately didn’t pass. 

I’ve chosen to see this as a win. In a city that has said no to housing for decades, a third of the council voted to expand where we can build housing in Los Angeles, and that is a small but powerful win. 

As I meet with constituents across my district, I see that Angelenos are desperate for the city to take bold action on housing. City Hall still needs to catch up, and I am committed to working towards that change.

Wishing you a joyful holiday season, 

I. Updates From City Hall — Getting Sworn In For A Second Term!, Broadening Our Building Carbonization Efforts, Honoring Jackie Goldberg 

II. In The District — Lending A Helping Hand This Thanksgiving, Getting In The Festive Spirit In Studio City, Lighting This Year’s Christmas Tree In Los Feliz 

III. Other Helpful Links 

GETTING SWORN IN FOR A SECOND TERM! 

December 12th marked the official start of my second term in office! City Clerk Holly Wolcott did the honors and issued the official oath of office at City Hall – something I never got to experience in my first term as I took office in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. I am so proud to represent this District and this City, and am honored to continue to work toward a shared vision of Los Angeles with all of you. Expect to hear more in the new year! 

BROADENING OUR BUILDING DECARBONIZATION EFFORTS

Two years ago, in partnership with Councilmember Krekorian and former Councilmember Koretz, we introduced and passed a sweeping building decarbonization motion to require all new building construction in the City of Los Angeles to be all-electric. As one of his final acts, former Mayor Garcetti signed this legislation into law in January 2023, paving the way for a cleaner, healthier, and safer future for residents of Los Angeles. But, our work was far from over. The next step was to turn our focus to existing buildings. 

Last week, Council voted to approve my motion asking the City to draft an ordinance to retrofit existing buildings of over 20,000 square feet, which account for a whopping 31% of carbon emissions. The legislation asks for the creation of a building performance standard (BPS) which would bring Los Angeles’ building decarbonization approach in line with standard best practice and in line with other major cities across the country including NYC, Denver, and Boston. It also gives us a clear pathway to attaining our Green New Deal goal of carbon neutrality in buildings by 2050.

I’ve said this before, but I want to emphasize it here again: every year we are seeing rising temperatures and the risk of more dangerous wildfires and more severe droughts and more deaths from heat exposure. We are also seeing our worsening air quality threaten residents’ health. And buildings actually make up the largest source of our climate pollution citywide. They account for 43% of our greenhouse gas emissions​​.

If we are going to get to the cleaner, healthier, more sustainable city I know we all share a vision for, then we are going to need to tackle the issue of greening both our new *and* existing buildings head on. With this legislation moving forward, we are now one step closer. 

HONORING JACKIE GOLDBERG 

For over four decades, Jackie Goldberg has been a powerful force for change in Los Angeles – unwavering in her commitment to building a city that serves everyone no matter their race, class, gender, or sexual orientation. 

First elected to the LAUSD Board of Education in 1983, Jackie used her platform to empower communities through public education, always prioritizing the needs of students and families, particularly those from underserved communities. In 1993, she was elected to the Los Angeles City Council to represent the 13th district and became the first openly lesbian candidate elected to the city council. She was later elected to the California State Assembly and then re-elected to the Board of Education in 2019. Needless to say, she has seen it all.

Throughout her wildly impressive tenure, Jackie has exemplified leadership, integrity, and compassion. Her contributions to both local governance and broader social justice movements will resonate for years to come, and we are so grateful to her years of service.

It has been an honor and a privilege to work alongside her, to learn from her, and to work toward achieving a shared vision of Los Angeles. 

Happy retirement, Jackie! We hope to continue making you proud and look forward to driving down the soon to be renamed Jackie Goldberg Sunset Junction! 

LENDING A HELPING HAND THIS THANKSGIVING

This year, we doubled down on our efforts to ensure no family went without a turkey this Thanksgiving! 

It started with a pre-holiday turkey giveaway in Reseda in partnership with MTO Shahmagshoudi, the Office of Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, and a little help from our friends at the Mayor’s Office. Together, we provided over 250 families with a free turkey and stuffing, as well as an LA Sanitation approved compost pail to help reduce waste after a season of holiday gatherings! 

Next, my staff headed to Studio City to volunteer with Big Sunday for their annual Thanksgiving stuffing event, where we helped fill bags full of everyone’s favorite Thanksgiving fixes, helping to feed 16,000 people from more than 100 different nonprofits and schools throughout Los Angeles. My office donated $5K to these efforts, helping fund over 300 meals! 

Thank you to all the volunteers, neighbors, donors, and community partners that joined us in this year’s efforts to make sure that any family in need was given a little extra support this holiday season. We’re continually in awe of our community and grateful to everyone who lent a helping hand this Thanksgiving. 

GETTING IN THE FESTIVE SPIRIT IN STUDIO CITY 

The holidays are in full swing in Council District 4! 

We joined our new pals Hudson and Zac (pictured above!) for some good old arts and crafts at the annual Studio City Shop, Stroll & Play event. Hosted in partnership with the Studio City Chamber, community members had the chance to do some holiday shopping along Studio city’s iconic Ventura Blvd while stopping at craft stations and activity tables along the way. 

Thank you to all the neighbors and businesses who helped turn Studio City into a Christmas wonderland! Remember to shop small and shop local this holiday season!

LIGHTING THIS YEAR’S CHRISTMAS TREE IN LOS FELIZ 

One of my favorite events of the holiday season is the annual lighting of the Los Feliz Christmas tree! A beloved gathering of neighbors and friends, the celebration kicked off with local entertainment – including the *magical* Josh of Diamonds – and ended with the much anticipated flip of the switch to light up this year’s dazzling tree. 

Thank you to the Friends of the Los Feliz Library and the Los Feliz BID for including me in this year’s celebration and ushering in the holiday spirit! And thank you so much to all the volunteers, small business owners, and community members who have come out to illuminate the neighborhood every year for almost 2 decades! 

Our Office:

Services + Resources

  • Food Pantry Locator — Get connected to food resources near you. 
  • StayHoused LA — Workshops and resources to help renters stay in their homes. 
  • MyLA311 — Submit a request for services including graffiti removal, pothole repair, and bulky-item pickup.
  • LA-HOP Homeless Outreach Portal — Assist or self-input an outreach request from the LA Homeless Services Authority to unhoused residents.
  • LA City Sanitation — Submit a service request for metal/household appliance disposal.
  • MyChildCarePlan — Free resource website for childcare providers and families listing every licensed provider in California.
  • Adopt or Foster A Shelter Pet— Find pets for adoption and a list of local shelters.
  • Gas Assistance Fund – The Gas Assistance Fund (GAF) offers a one-time grant to help customers pay their natural gas bills.
  • Ready Your LA Business Workbook – City of LA’s FREE workbook to help business owners prepare their business for any emergency. Available in English and Spanish.

Alerts

  • NotifyLA — Sign up to receive urgent notifications about local emergencies by phone, email, and/or text message. 
  • LAFD Alerts – Sign up for alerts on fires and evacuations in your area.
  • LADWP Outage Info — Sign up for outage alerts in your area.
  • StreetsLA Street Sweeping — Register for notifications about sweeping in your neighborhoods.