Los Angeles | In-Person

Can Anyone Afford to Live in L.A. Anymore?

Moderated by Lauren Schuker Blum, Contributor, Wall Street Journal and The Economist

Wanna buy a house in Los Angeles? You better have some extra cash lying around. Middle-class Angelenos can afford fewer than one in four homes in the county. Wanna rent? Good luck–renting has become even less affordable than buying. The median rent in L.A. has risen by over 25 percent in the past decade, and the county is facing a shortage of a half million affordable units for low-income residents. Wanna move out to other parts of Southern California? The commute from the Inland Empire will kill you, and Orange and Ventura counties are even less affordable than L.A. No wonder so many Southern Californians, especially those with children, have left the region. What makes L.A. so expensive, even in difficult economic times? And can anything be done to bring home prices and rents more in line with incomes? Curbed L.A. senior editor Adrian Glick Kudler, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate director Richard K. Green, and East LA Community Corporation president Maria Cabildo visit Zócalo to discuss the high cost of calling L.A. home.

LOCATION:
Petersen Automotive Museum
6060 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Parking is $8.

The Takeaway

Why Is L.A. Housing Really Really Ridiculously Expensive?

It Costs a Lot to Live in Southern California. But Things Could Be Worse—and There Are Ways to Make Them Better.

Los Angeles is the second-most expensive housing market in the country, behind the Bay Area. It’s a situation, said Wall Street Journal and Economist contributor Lauren Schuker Blum, of “housing …