The first results of Los Angeles County’s landmark homelessness funding measure are already emerging, with more than $256 million committed to creating 1,530 affordable housing units just 18 months after voters approved it.
High living costs and hardships caused by aggressive federal immigration enforcement emerged as key concerns among Pomona community members at a recent listening session convened by the California Community Foundation.
One attendee at a recent fire remembrance procession in Altadena told organizers it was the first time they had been able to cry since losing their house – an experience that felt like “a welcoming back home” after months of displacement. Another described the gathering as a rare source of “joy and hope” in a recovery landscape dominated by information sessions and protests, but offering few spaces for collective grief.
More than a year after Mena Liu fled her Pasadena apartment building as the Eaton Fire bore down, she knows she’s not fully recovered. She’s sad. She’s anxious. She still avoids driving past burned out lots in her neighborhood.
A broad coalition of Los Angeles business leaders, labor groups, housing advocates and nonprofits is urging city officials to overhaul Measure ULA rather than repeal it, warning that without swift reforms the voter-approved tax could collapse under mounting political and legal pressure.
Hundreds of Altadena residents — many still displaced by the Eaton Fire — gathered recently at the town’s third annual Earth Day to reconnect, reflect and recommit to rebuilding their community with intention.