Director's Report 2024
Highlights from the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Evelyn Blumenberg
At the Lewis Center, we’re passionately committed to shaping public policy and planning to improve the quality of life for everyone in the Los Angeles region, especially our most vulnerable neighbors. Given the many challenges facing our region, this mandate has never been more important.
We’re tackling some of the most pressing issues head on, from the affordable housing crisis to providing transportation services for low-income households and creating urban environments that are equitable, safe, and sustainable.
Our work is reaching a broader and more diverse audience than ever before. We’re also playing a larger role in influencing policy in the region. In the past year alone, we’ve led cutting-edge research on land use plans and fair housing, analyzed post-pandemic commute travel, and evaluated local transportation and housing programs, like BlueLA and Homekey. We’ve also hosted dynamic events that not only showcase our own research but also spark innovative policy and program ideas.
If you haven’t yet, tune in to the UCLA Housing Voice podcast, now about 77 episodes old. Researchers from around the world join us to make sense of complicated housing issues. And this year many of the podcast guests have focused on homelessness research and policy, a topic that’s especially relevant to Los Angeles.
As always, we look forward to engaging with you as we expand our portfolio of research and events — on campus, online, and across Los Angeles. Let’s keep pushing forward together.
Evelyn Blumenberg Director, UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Furthering Fair Housing
Fair Housing Land Use Score
California law now requires that local governments affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH) in the housing element of their General Plan. To assess the impact of this law, Lewis Center researchers developed a new tool for measuring whether cities are affirmatively furthering fair housing.
The Fair Housing Land Use Score measures the extent to which local policies affect neighborhoods compared to their relative opportunity (e.g., income, environmental quality). The scores show that most cities in Southern California created housing plans that concentrate new development in their lower-income, more polluted, and less white neighborhoods. Instead of advancing fair housing goals, this can exacerbate rather than reverse segregation. Excluding new housing from desirable neighborhoods likely contributes to housing scarcity and unaffordability, while increasing the risk of homelessness.
Where are planned housing projects concentrated?
This map illustrates the Fair Housing Land Use Score for select Southern California cities. You can click the boundaries of the city to see its Fair Housing Land Use graph, a visual representation of where planned projects are concentrated.
Montebello has an overall high score due to the concentration of new housing in higher-income areas, while Santa Monica is low because there are very few new housing units zoned for higher-income areas.
Informing California Policymakers
In February, Associate Faculty Director Michael Lens presented the Fair Housing Land Use Score to state policymakers. He was part of a UCLA Luskin contingent that presented research to help drive transformative action and policy solutions for California.
The UCLA Luskin Briefing in Sacramento took place during the time when new bills were being finalized for the next legislative session, and the hope is that the research of UCLA Luskin and its various research centers can put current and future legislative leaders in a better position to make data-informed decisions.
Don’t gut L.A.’s best shot at affordable housing
In this Los Angeles Times op-ed, the Lewis Center’s Aaron Barrall and Shane Phillips make a case for retaining single-family zoned properties in the city’s Housing Element Rezone Program. These properties were initially included as key strategies for affirmatively furthering fair housing, but were later cut based on homeowner and councilmember feedback.
Explore More
Read more about the fair housing land use score and other materials associated with this research project.
LA Progress & Innovation
BlueLA Meeting Needs of Low-Income Travelers
Map of BlueLA stations and ZIP codes of study particpants
Studies highlight the many benefits of car access, yet the high cost of car ownership often excludes many low-income families. Carsharing programs, or subscription-based services that provide short-term car rentals, present a promising solution by offering affordable access to vehicles.
One such program is BlueLA by Blink Mobility, an EV carsharing program that provides subsidized services to low-income households in central Los Angeles. Researchers at the Lewis Center studies how people used this service and the benefits it provided its users.
The research revealed that while subsidies helped increase access for low-income travelers, BlueLA had limitations, particularly for work commutes and long-distance travel. Car availability was another key issue; when BlueLA vehicles were unavailable, participants often turned to alternative modes of transportation.
Lessons Learned from California’s Homekey Program
Homekey acquisition located on the 21100 block of Vanowen Street
California’s Homekey, intended to rapidly expand the supply of affordable housing, is best known for helping local governments purchase and convert motels into supportive housing. But it has also been used to acquire new market-rate buildings and lease them at affordable rents to low-income tenants.
In a February publication , we compared the costs of acquiring and converting market-rate housing through Homekey to a random sample of 24 similarly purpose-built affordable housing developments.
We found that acquisitions are considerably less expensive — 20% less per unit than non-Homekey subsidized developments. Acquisitions also offer additional benefits, such as faster delivery of affordable units, reduced risk of overspending, and permanent public ownership.
Student Research
Turning Transportation Pilots Into Lasting Solutions
Jo Dine MURP ‘24 conducted research for the Southern California Association of Governments about the life cycles of transportation pilot programs . She aimed to understand what happens after a pilot project ends and what it takes to transition successful pilots into permanent programs. Her work examined common patterns in pilot projects and funding strategies, providing valuable insights for policymakers and organizations to determine the next steps after a pilot runs its course. Read more about Jo's research, and that of other student Lewis Center fellows, here.
Exploring the Impact of ADUS in Los Angeles
Working with the Office of City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, Miles Cressy MURP ‘24 examined whether accessory dwelling units have contributed to the supply of affordable housing in Council District 3. His research found that ADUs currently make up a small portion of the district’s overall housing supply. However, with the addition of targeted incentive programs, education and promotion, ADUs could significantly increase affordable housing options in Los Angeles and provide renters with more diverse housing choices. Read more about Miles' research, and that of other student Lewis Center fellows, here.
Back-to-Back Fellows Win National Acclaim
For a second year in a row, a Lewis Center fellow has been recognized for outstanding work in the field of transportation planning. Anne Yoon MURP ’23 won the Neville A. Parker Memorial Award for her impressive capstone project that highlighted significant disparities in the distribution of bus stop shelters across Los Angeles.
“Without understanding at the very least the current state of our distribution of public resources like bus shelters, the compounding effects of racist policies that produce such inequities will persist.” Anne Yoon, MURP '23
Event Highlights
Building up Communities of Color
At a May Luskin Lecture , former Los Angeles Laker Devean George came together with fellow Black real estate professionals, Malcolm Johnson and Malika Billingslea, to share the struggles and successes of building up neighborhoods of color. In a moderated discussion with Associate Faculty Director Michael Lens, the panelists discussed the ongoing challenges of limited wealth, investment, and ownership in many Black communities, as well as potential policy changes that could remove barriers to achieve real housing justice. The lecture, held at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in downtown Los Angeles, was part of a larger conversation about housing development and social justice taking place at UCLA Luskin. It was co-sponsored by the Lewis Center, UCLA Luskin, the Ziman Center for Real Estate and the Bunche Center for African American Studies.
California Speed Safety Workshop
With the recent passage of California Assembly Bill 645, select cities in California will soon have the ability to use speed cameras as a tool to combat speeding — a major contributor to traffic crashes, injuries and fatalities. The Lewis Center, in partnership with the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, convened representatives from Los Angeles, Long Beach, Glendale, Oakland, and San José to discuss key questions and next steps in the implementation of speed safety systems.
UCLA facilitators Madeline Brozen and Juan Matute led discussions on camera placement, community engagement, data collection and evaluation, and regional communication approaches. With assistance from experts in Chicago and New York, where speed cameras have already been implemented, participants had the opportunity to learn from each other, aiming to ensure that speed cameras in California become an effective tool in combating traffic violence .
Pathways Home
Is homelessness a housing problem, or a personal one? What actually works for reducing homelessness — and what doesn’t? These were just a few of the motivating questions behind the inception of Pathways Home, an eight-episode series from the UCLA Housing Voice podcast.
From November 2023 through March 2024, the Pathways Home series brought together experts to discuss everything from the structural factors that explain why homelessness is so prevalent in certain regions to the varying population groups who experience homelessness. Critically, the series also discussed what high-quality research identifies as the most effective interventions.
While many solutions to homelessness have been proposed, Pathways Home recognizes that few have been rooted in an evidence-based understanding of who experiences homelessness and why, or which solutions are most effective. Through delving into this complex topic alongside expert insights and research, Pathways Home aims to inspire more effective approaches to address homelessness on both a local and national scale. Listen and subscribe to learn more.
Sought-After Expertise
Lewis Center faculty and staff remain sought-after experts on topics related to housing affordability, homelessness, transportation access, traffic violence, and safety.
- Los Angeles Times: How L.A. can build more housing without looking like New York
- Los Angeles Times: Going car-less in LA: The environmental benefits and economic costs
- Los Angeles Times: SoCal housing crisis makes commute times worse. But the rich get a traffic break
- KCRW: How safe is LA Metro, really? A look at latest crime data
- KQED: When Your Car Becomes Your Home
- LAist: LA Secures Funding For Bus Shelters. Community Calls It 'Long Overdue'
- New York Times: I Live in My Car
- The Next City: What If Your City Gave You Money for Transit?
