Climate Ready Neighborhoods

Housing and Homelessness

County of Los Angeles

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative

As a result of the climate crisis, it is more urgent than ever that housing change in Southern California take on a climate resilient lens. As demand for housing has increased in our region, the percentage of California’s housing stock in wildfire-prone areas has increased exponentially as urban sprawl has pushed more people out from job centers in search of more affordable homes. Unfortunately, Angelenos who bear the greatest burden of climate change are also most likely to be excluded from housing decisions. In today’s climate paradigm, a new American dream is necessary for Los Angeles when it comes to housing. Protecting residents from the consequences of climate change and reducing our carbon footprint as a County is imperative. To achieve that, Abundant Housing LA is reshaping housing narratives and training Angelenos to advocate for climate-resilient housing change.

Abundant Housing LA (AHLA) is leading the movement of housing advocates in Los Angeles County who are fighting for a housing future that promotes racial equity, economic mobility, climate resilience and quality of life. Rather than permit the status quo to push LA County residents into environmentally fragile areas that are farther away from transit, jobs, and services, we fight for forward-thinking solutions. AHLA wants to change the housing paradigm by bringing residents together through Climate Ready Neighborhoods, a participatory project to support housing in LA County that is safe from wildfires, rising heats, and other impacts on neighborhoods of climate change. Through a participatory design process, AHLA will engage local residents and activists to co-author a housing platform that proposes housing and land use strategies for climate and wildfire resilience. AHLA will leverage our existing network of 17 chapters across LA County to identify local stakeholders, recruit partners, host teach-ins about the platform, and publish content about climate resilience and housing in their local city or neighborhood. Local chapters will also be able to use the platform and content to further their own advocacy efforts. At the organizational level, AHLA will leverage existing relationships with policymakers and planning agencies to disseminate the platform. Our goal is, ultimately, to influence policymakers in LA to support climate-resilient housing policy.

Our goal is to amplify public narratives and policy solutions in LA that center climate change in housing. As a result of this effort, our local chapter members, local climate activists, and local policymakers will advance policy solutions that address LA’s climate and housing needs at the same time. To date, there has been little effort in LA to engage the public and local decision-makers in discussions and planning at the intersection of our two most urgent needs: housing and climate resilience. Angelenos are paying greater attention to housing as a result of the homelessness crisis, and housing also needs to be understood as an intersectional issue with a climate lens or else we are at risk of promoting change that harms our environment further. The Climate Ready Neighborhoods project will connect these issues and advance solutions to keep LA's housing future safe from the harmful effects of climate change.

The Climate Ready Neighborhoods project will have succeeded if we meet the following goals: (1) Successfully engage 10 local climate activist groups/organizations located in each of our chapter neighborhoods/cities as co-authors of Climate Ready Neighborhoods (2) Co-create the Climate Ready Neighborhoods platform through a participatory design process (3) Publicize the project by gaining media coverage from at least 2 local news outlets and 10,000 online impressions (4) Local policymakers or agencies (such as Southern California Association of Governments or city councilmembers) adopt recommendations made by Climate Ready Neighborhoods. AHLA tracks our progress through monthly organizational metrics. We share progress on our initiatives through public updates in our newsletter and blog, and by sharing live updates through our local chapter meetings and membership meetings.