Nearly four in 10 renters in Los Angeles County fear losing their housing and becoming homeless in recent years, according to the results of a new UCLA survey. A similar percentage fear that they or their family will go hungry because they cannot afford the cost of food.
The 2024 Quality of Living Index, prepared by UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs, suggests that renters in the county are feeling particularly intense pressure due to the high cost of housing combined with inflation.
“Everyone feels like they’re being crushed by the cost of living, even well-off people,” said Zev Yaroslavsky, a former county supervisor and longtime city council member who is now director of the Initiative. from Los Angeles to the University of Los Angeles. Luskin School. But for tenants, this pressure is particularly strong, he added.
Overall, researchers found that the high cost of living, especially housing, harms the quality of life of the country’s residents.
This year, the overall quality of life score reported by survey respondents fell to 53 on a scale of 10 to 100, tied with 2022 for the lowest score since the survey was launched. in 2016. The cost of living score fell to 38, the lowest score. score never observed in any category.
Renters reported being less satisfied with the cost of living, jobs and the economy than nearly every other major demographic group in the survey of 1,686 county residents.
Less than a quarter of renters said they think they could one day buy a home in a part of Los Angeles where they would like to live. And about half, or 51 percent, of renters said they were pessimistic about their economic future in Los Angeles County, while 61 percent of homeowners said they were optimistic.
Pablo Estupiñan, campaign director of the tenant advocacy group Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, or SAJE, said the findings reflect his experience working with tenants across Los Angeles.
“People in the community are very worried about being evicted or becoming homeless,” he said. “That’s a bit of the trend we’re seeing, with wages pretty much stagnating while rents continue to rise.”
The median rent in Los Angeles is $2,083, according to Apartment List. That’s down slightly from last year, but still high enough to create significant challenges for area renters.
Earlier this year, a report from Penn’s Housing Initiative estimated that between 97,000 and 153,000 households in the city of Los Angeles were behind on rent as of August 2023. Although much of that rent debt is ‘s accumulated during the pandemic, much of it has accumulated. has increased more recently, indicating that economic strains since the pandemic are challenging renters.
“Where possible, it will be easier and less costly to keep people housed than to find them new housing after they have been evicted or become homeless,” the Penn report concludes.
Last year, more than 47,000 eviction cases were filed in courts countywide, the most since 2016, according to data compiled by Kyle Nelson, senior policy and research analyst for SAJE .
Advocates expect that number to rise again this year, after the last COVID-era tenant protection expired in February.
The survey, conducted in English and Spanish from late February to mid-March, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3%.
California Daily Newspapers
