Newsletters: Los Angeles Mayoral Candidates Forum: Online Video Here

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MAYORAL CANDIDATES FORUM ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Friday, January 11, 2013

Conference Center at Cathedral Plaza, Downtown Los Angeles

Eric Garcetti Wendy Greuel Jan Perry Raphael Bostic

Council President City Controller Councilmember Forum Moderator

USC Sol Price School
of Public Policy

(LOS ANGELES, CA) The three leading candidates in the Los Angeles mayoral race each vowed strong support for affordable housing at a downtown event on Friday, January 11, with City Councilmembers Eric Garcetti and Jan Perry citing their role in helping build thousands of new units for low-income households, and City Controller Wendy Greuel calling for more housing for middle-income families.

Speaking to a standing-room-only crowd of 500 people at the Mayoral Candidates Forum on Affordable Housing, the three candidates engaged in a frank discussion on strategies to provide adequate housing for all residents of the city. The event was hosted by Housing For A Stronger Los Angeles, a broad-based coalition of housing industry professionals.

Housing has become an issue in this year's mayoral campaign, in part due to the sharp decline in funding to build or renovate affordable units. Funding sources for affordable housing in the City of Los Angeles have either been diminished or run dry in recent years, causing a $72 million drop in public funding from 2008 to 2013. Those losses include $50 million in annual affordable housing investment from redevelopment and $19 million in federal HOME funds provided by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). Meanwhile, housing remains one of the most expensive items in the daily life of Los Angeles residents, with affordable housing out of reach for many.

Garcetti pointed to his experience as councilman during a time of rapid growth in Hollywood, which is in his district. "As mayor I will build on my experience leading the nation's largest affordable housing trust fund and the nation's first tenant foreclosure eviction moratorium to tackle and solve our immediate and long term housing challenges."

Greuel addressed the need for the construction of so-called "workforce" housing, targeting people who earn the median income, but who are often unable to find housing they can afford in LA's costly neighborhoods:. "As mayor, I'll fight to increase affordable housing in Los Angeles," she said. "This city should be a place where families, cops and teachers can all afford to live," Greuel added.

Perry called herself a "staunch advocate," citing the high level of housing development in her Downtown L.A. district. "By leveraging the success of Downtown revitalization, I was able to support the development of more than 4,000 units of affordable and supportive housing for working families, seniors and the homeless," she said.

The event was moderated by economist Dr. Raphael Bostic, director of the Bedrosian Center on Governance and a professor at the Sol Price School of Public Policy, both at USC.

Robin Hughes, president of Abode Communities, served as co-chair of the Steering Committee of Housing For A Stronger Los Angeles. Her Co-chair was Tony Salazar, president of West Coast operations for McCormack Baron Salazar, a national for-profit affordable-housing developer.

SCANPH and our members are sponsors and endorsers of Housing for a Stronger Los Angeles, a broad-based coalition of affordable housing providers; social service, community-based, and faith-based organizations; and business and development industry leaders with a common commitment to housing as a means of promoting the health, education sustainability and economy of Los Angeles.

Download the Housing for A Stronger Los Angeles Coalition platform here.

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