In Southern California, we need much better public schools, universal healthcare and rent control. Local governments should not put additional funding into prisons, juvenile facilities or law enforcement (that conducts racial profiling, widespread surveillance and assists ICE in detaining and deporting immigrants), but should instead pay for proactive measures that Read more…
Diversifying and hiring or appointing local community members who understand the impact of their systems on communities in poverty. City councils should appoint diverse planning commission members who understand the impact of permits, future neighborhood developments, the need for affordable housing, etc. Not just appoint those who have given more Read more…
County and local governments are at the forefront of our housing and homelessness crisis and are best able to work with housing developers to reduce the extreme cost of building affordable and supportive housing, which currently stands around $600,000 per unit. By reducing red tape, expediting the permitting and approval Read more…
City and County governments can also work to reduce structural barriers in the systems that they oversee. They can make investments in transportation and housing infrastructure that allows better access to jobs City and County should not focus on economic development strategies with a narrow focus on increasing sales tax Read more…
It’s not always about finding a job. Sometimes it’s about creating one. We have many entrepreneurs here in the Inland Empire who want to start businesses and create a job for themselves and for others. Unfortunately, the venture capital needed to get start-up businesses off the ground is in short Read more…
Late last year, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles pioneered a pilot program that allows some people with a past conviction to live in public housing or in private housing as part of the Section 8 program. It’s a model that can and should be replicated in Read more…
City and County governments can replicate programs like the Los Angeles Regional Initiative for Social Enterprise (LA:RISE). LA:RISE is an innovative partnership that unites the City and County of Los Angeles to help people with high employment barriers get jobs, stay employed, and build a better life. LA:RISE connects employment Read more…
Counties and cities should offer contracts to motels to provide shelter to those unable to get housing, or a place to shower, or to leave one’s possessions while looking for a job. Many people are one good interview away from a job, and then a route out of poverty–but having Read more…
Notwithstanding the state problems, local governments should not pile on their own. Cut red tape, grow jobs, approve new housing, shelter the most vulnerable and encourage supportive services to help.
Measure all policies by whether these policies are helping reduce poverty and increase economic opportunity for those in poverty. County and City governments need to hold themselves accountable to whether or not poverty is being reduced year by year. City and County governments should not abdicate their responsibility and shift Read more…
Public safety is an often overlooked factor in economic analysis. Even a perfect plan for business development and public transit, for example, will fail if people don’t feel safe on the sidewalks and train platforms. Businesses with no customers go out of business, leading to economic hardship and poverty for Read more…
The city and counties have to recognize that they have to accommodate housing and companies rather than chase them away. This means, for example, converting surplus retail to housing, and allowing non-profits to build workforce housing. Cities can also do, as Long Beach has, tailor their educational program to work Read more…
Many of the same opportunities available to state government are available in some way to local officials — emphasize low taxes and debt, limited/reasonable regulation, financial sustainability, build world-class infrastructure, and eliminate barriers to new home construction.
Adopt land-use and zoning changes for higher density housing, innovative housing designs and fee waivers for housing affordable to the lowest income residents in their cities. They should not zone the majority of their cities for single-family homes on large lots with minimum house sizes and required design features, like Read more…