A postcard from Los Angeles
An adventuring planner’s view on housing and environmental considerations in Los Angeles….
Arriving in Los Angeles my next stop off, I quickly notice that housing is a deeply tangled issue here, rife with contradictions: sunshine, wealth, sprawling neighbourhoods — but alongside these, a very visible crisis of homelessness and environmental unfairness.
What I found with regards to homelessness & housing:
- The number of people without stable homes in LA County is huge (tens of thousands). Many of them live unsheltered or as I was told ‘unhoused’ was the new terms for people existing in tents, cars, makeshift shelters….on a scale I had not experienced here in the Uk – thankfully!
- I was clear that there are undeniable efforts so there has been some progress: more shelters, temporary housing, and a modest decrease in the number of people living fully outdoors recently. This can only be good news. The ethnic and inequalities all the more prevalent which homelessness affecting ” continue to be overwhelming people of colour, particularly Black and Latino people” [1]
- With all the ‘jazz’ around Los Angeles and having traipsed up the Hollywood walk of fame, demand will far outstrip supply. With scarce affordable housing and very high rents the risk of falling into homeless ever present for some, I am sure! With dreams of fame and fortune shattered into daily ‘hustle’ to secure basic human needs prevailing.
- It is also clear that displacement is also an issue, from gentrification, fire damage and loss of housing stock in disasters.
Driving along the Pacific Coast highway from Malibu to Santa Monica, I reflect of the beauty of the coastline and ferociousness of nature, seeing the effects of the recent wildfires on the coastline properties close to the Palisades.
The weather & environmental disparities are clearly a consideration, ok it may be nicer to be ‘unhoused’ where winter temperatures are around 20 degrees compared to England where rainy and freezing temperatures making being unhoused much more unhospitable, but the changing climate seems to put greater pressure on housing resources:
- Wildfires have been increasingly severe, destroying homes, displacing residents, communities and adding further stress to what is an already tight housing market. These disasters too, do not affect people equally. Those without stable housing are especially exposed.
- Smoke, bad air quality, ash, no place to escape indoors — people living on the streets or in tents are much more vulnerable to respiratory diseases, heat, smoke. There are reports of people struggling to breathe, having asthma, etc
- Heat and extreme weather events disproportionately hit poorer neighbourhoods, often those with fewer trees, more pavement, limited shade or cooling options. These places also overlap with areas suffering housing precarity.[2]
- After disasters like fires, many people who survived lose access to a home and increases in homelessness result or following form or into temporary/overcrowded situations. There is also competition in the housing market after displacement.[3]
From my viewpoint, it seems that having good weather (morning sun, mild winters) is a double-edged sword: it attracts many but also makes it more “possible” to live outside, which might reduce pressures to create sufficient emergency shelter (although that is no excuse….).
The contrast between areas of affluence — nice homes, air conditioning, green leafy suburbs — and areas of extreme vulnerability (encampments, makeshift housing, people exposed to heat, pollution, fire risk) is striking ad something which again tugs at the heart strings of this town planner. The solutions complex, challenging and potential unsettling but necessary none the less.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/14/los-angeles-county-homelessness-report#:~:text=The%20southern%20California%20metropolitan%20area,to%2075%2C312%20people%20in%202024.
[2] https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/03/13/los-angeles-fires-expose-flawed-housing-policies?utm_source=chatgpt.com
[3] https://californiahealthline.org/news/article/los-angeles-la-california-wildfires-homelessness-housing/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
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