The Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies

This report, prepared for Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI), explores strategies to enhance park access and usage among older adults in Westlake, Los Angeles, with a focus on MacArthur Park. Despite the park's potential as a communal space, older adults often face barriers to active participation. Observations and interviews revealed that while many older adults value the park for socializing and relaxation, issues such as safety concerns, limited mobility accommodations, and inadequate amenities hinder their engagement.The study identifies critical themes impacting older adults' park utilization, including the need for improved safety measures, enhanced mobility features, gender-inclusive spaces, and effective communication about park programs. Recommendations include upgrading wayfinding systems, modernizing bus stops for comfort, increasing shaded areas, expanding programming at the MacArthur Park Community Center, and improving essential amenities like restrooms and drinking fountains.These interventions aim to create an inclusive environment that not only benefits older adults but also fosters intergenerational relationships and community well-being. As the City of Los Angeles considers the future of MacArthur Park through initiatives like the Reconnecting MacArthur Park project, implementing these recommendations offers an opportunity to transform the park into a vibrant, accessible space for all age groups, thereby strengthening community resilience amidst ongoing urban changes.

This report explores how Los Angeles can implement a sustainable, equity-driven social housing program under Measure ULA’s Alternative Models program. In response to the City’s deepening housing crisis, the report examines policy and statutory frameworks, reviews literature on social housing, and analyzes case studies from Vienna, Paris, and Montgomery County, Maryland. Measure ULA, passed by voters in 2022, provides a dedicated funding source, currently projected between $149 million and $165 million, for alternative housing models that prioritize deeply affordable units (20% for households earning 0-30% of AMI), while permitting up to 20% market-rate units to ensure financial viability.International case studies offer transferable lessons: Vienna’s cost-rent and dual subsidy model reduces construction costs and ensures long-term affordability; the Paris region demonstrates how coordinated public planning and land use policies can double housing production; and Montgomery County’s revolving loan fund enables cross-subsidization and scalable development.This report concludes that Los Angeles can adapt a hybrid approach, leveraging its strong rental market and public funding under ULA, but further strategies are needed to achieve deep affordability and scale. Recommendations include establishing a diversified public financing framework, maximizing public land use, streamlining permitting processes, and strengthening institutional capacity, potentially through a public development authority. These insights provide a roadmap for transforming Los Angeles’s housing landscape through inclusive, permanently affordable social housing.

This research examines the demolition of units under the Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO) in the City of Los Angeles, and analyzes their replacement through policy programs that incentivize housing development such as Executive Directive 1, the Transit Oriented Communities program, and the California Density Bonus. The study uses data from departments in the City of Los Angeles and informational interviews with the Los Angeles Housing Department to evaluate patterns of redevelopment and tenant protections under State Bills 8 and 330.Findings reveal that while redevelopment has produced a 195% net increase in housing units replacing RSOs, affordable housing gains remain modest with a 5% increase. Only 26% of RSO removals demonstrated through Ellis Act filings are tied to known replacement development projects. Most replacement units are designated at market-rate, and the majority of income-restricted affordable replacement units are priced for households earning up to 80% of Area Median Income. Additionally, no tenants have successfully exercised their Right to Return, due to redevelopment delays, limited outreach, and limited enforcement. The report also identifies policy loopholes for speculative practices, such as re-renting withdrawn RSO units or delaying redevelopment to bypass affordable unit replacement requirements.The study illustrates that while incentive programs expand housing production, they are not adequately aligned with replacing RSOs with deeply affordable units that neighborhoods need. Policy recommendations include strengthening relocation protections, expanding RSO eligibility to cover aging the aging housing stock, closing policy loopholes, and requiring deeper affordability in incentive-based replacement developments. These reforms are essential to ensure redevelopment supports vulnerable renters in the City of Los Angeles.

Traditional urban planning approaches to social infrastructure center formal institutions such as libraries and parks (Klinenberg 2018). Expanding this notion to include every day, community-rooted informal third places reveal how these spaces provide support, a sense of belonging, and resilience in marginalized communities. This thesis investigates how Vanessa’s Barber and Beauty Salon, a queer and trans-led business in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, acts as a site of social infrastructure for low-income, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ communities. Through eight months of participant observation and 15 semi-structured interviews with salon workers, owner, clients, and community members, this thesis reveals how Vanessa’s salon provides resources such as housing, employment, emotional support, and social connectivity through extensive neighborhood ties. Workers engage in brokering to meet community needs and, together, create a welcoming and inclusive space that extends into the public sphere. The salon becomes a community hub of belonging for a community facing exclusion and discrimination throughout the city. This study calls for planners to recognize and protect community social infrastructure as essential to urban life and the livelihoods of marginalized residents.

This report conducted in partnership with the City of Long Beach Office of Digital Equity and Inclusion (ODEI), aims to identify and address persistent gaps in internet access across the City of Long Beach. Despite significant progress many Long Beach residents, particularly in low-income communities, still face challenges to reliable, affordable internet access. These barriers contribute to broader inequities in education, employment, healthcare, and civic participation.To inform policy recommendations, we employed a mixed-methods approach that included community surveys (digital and print), focus groups, expert interviews, and analysis of public park Wi-Fi login data. This data collection revealed eight key findings: (1) Internet is essential; (2) affordability is a key barrier; (3) one in four households are disconnected or at risk of losing connectivity; (4) bill discounts are effective; (5) public Wi-Fi has limited effectiveness; (6) ISP competition benefits consumers; (7) there is a need for more community trust and engagement; and (8) ongoing data collection is necessary.Based on these findings, the report recommends three core actions: promoting ISP competition in multi-family housing through an Internet Choice Ordinance; supporting statewide affordability legislation like AB 355; and expanding community outreach to raise awareness of digital inclusion resources. Additional recommendations include improving public Wi-Fi infrastructure and continuing to gather connectivity data.These findings and recommendations offer a model for other municipalities looking to implement community-informed, equity-focused broadband expansion strategies.

This report evaluates the extent to which federally funded Reconnecting Communities Pilot (RCP) projects align with restorative justice (RJ) principles, focusing on three case studies: two in Pasadena and one in San Diego. Drawing from a mixed-method approach, the research integrates a literature review of freeway-related harm, spatial analysis of displacement vulnerability, and a comparative evaluation of project merit criteria. The analysis highlights how historical infrastructure decisions disproportionately displaced low-income communities of color, producing long-term socioeconomic and environmental inequities that persist today. While federal initiatives such as RCP and Justice40 mark a significant policy shift, their effectiveness hinges on implementation.Findings from both Pasadena projects demonstrate strong alignment with community-led planning and anti-displacement strategies, though public responses revealed tensions between historical acknowledgment and present-day resistance. In contrast, San Diego’s Mend the Gap project proposes spatial reconnection through lid parks but lacks a clear implementation plan for preventing displacement–despite merit criteria emphasizing equity. Spatial analysis confirms elevated gentrification risk in surrounding areas.Across all three cases, restorative intent does not always translate into restorative outcomes. Projects that fail to incorporate enforceable anti-displacement tools, land use protections, and shared governance risk perpetuating the very inequities they seek to redress. This research underscores the need for a robust RJ framework that integrates spatial reparations with community power-building. The findings provide actionable insights for planners, policymakers, and advocates aiming to ensure that infrastructure investments produce not only physical reconnection, but also lasting equity for historically harmed communities.

This report, prepared for the Thai Community Development Center (Thai CDC), a non-profit community-based organization, outlines the current need for a Community Plan Implementation Overlay (CPIO) in Thai Town and highlights the needs and benefits a specific plan can bring. Thai Town, a six-block neighborhood nestled in East Hollywood, and its residents understand what is necessary to implement their vision into reality. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach in the form of data gathering at outreach events and finding data via the US Census and other publicly accessible data, this study lays the groundwork for establishing key themes that the CPIO should emphasize based on community engagement data. Implementing a CPIO successfully will require close collaboration among multiple stakeholders including Thai CDC, Council District 13, and most importantly the residents of CD13, who must leverage each other’s strengths to develop planning guidelines that both uplift the community and reflect its vision for the future. A CPIO would help bring forth the community vision for the neighborhood that is needed to be a lively and artistic modern cultural destination and continue fostering community economic development. My report provides a community assessment and benefit analysis of a proposed CPIO in Thai Town. The findings aim to inform organizing efforts, planning strategies, and policy decisions for the CPIO and can be used for the broader Thai Town Enhancement Plan.

This report explores establishing community ownership structures in Fresno’s Chinatown in order to ensure local residents and business owners benefit from the anticipated redevelopment spurred by the planned California High Speed Rail Station. Chinatown Fresno is characterized by a historic diverse immigrant community, historic disinvestment and multigenerational business ownership. It faces significant gentrification risks with incoming investments. Conducted for Emerging Markets Development Corporation, this report assesses the feasibility and potential process of implementing a Neighborhood Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) or other models to build wealth for community members and prevent their displacement. Methods included surveying U.S. community ownership models, analyzing current plans for Chinatown Fresno, examining tax increment financing, and interviewing key stakeholders in government, philanthropy and the private sector. Findings reveal strong local investment in the neighborhood's future, extensive planning efforts lacking cohesive financial feasibility assessments, and the potential for master-planned pro forma development to enhance the implementation of state and federal grants and coordinate external investments. It also suggests a Joint Powers Authority to align public resources and foster predictable investment conditions, with a Neighborhood REIT proposed as a vehicle to blend institutional and local investments, distributing returns to community members. The report aims to advise urban planners, foundations, community organizations, and government officials on how community ownership ideas can be incorporated into Chinatown Fresno and promote wealth building, prevent displacement, and achieve sustainable, inclusive redevelopment.

The travel experiences of unhoused women in Los Angeles present a critical yet underexplored aspect of urban mobility and homelessness. This report aims to fill the gap in literature addressing the unique travel patterns and challenges this group faces, emphasizing the need for solutions tailored to their mobility needs. Interviews with unhoused women in Los Angeles were conducted to gauge their travel patterns and primary safety concerns. Interviews took place in Van Nuys and Little Tokyo to reflect the differences in travel experiences between the suburbs and the inner city. Homelessness resources are more concentrated in Central City Los Angeles, where Little Tokyo is located, providing a model for what could be possible in terms of mobility, safety, and access to public transportation. Conversely, in Van Nuys, resources are sparse and spread out, compelling unhoused women to travel greater distances and optimize their travel time by multitasking.Key takeaways include reliance on community networks, increasing preference for biking as an affordable and eco-friendly travel mode, and the use of bikes and fare-free transit for feelings of autonomy and independence. Additionally, despite concerns about safety when alone, unhoused women are still wary of law enforcement, and anti-homeless measures like 41.18 lead to continuous displacements, disrupting daily routines.Findings suggest addressing the fundamental issue of housing, implementing robust data collection, partnering with homelessness advocacy groups, securing funding for essential amenities, and making infrastructural improvements to support the autonomy, mobility, and safety of unhoused women. All in all, a comprehensive approach is necessary to provide effective relief.

Los Angeles County's 15-year initiative to overhaul its transportation infrastructure aims to reduce car reliance and promote public transit, walking, and cycling through dense, transit-oriented development (TOD) near stations. Despite significant investment, numerous challenges remain including bureaucratic obstacles, declining per capita ridership, and concerns about displacement and gentrification. The study evaluated LA Metro rail stations' impact on nearby communities, using ACS data from 2009 to 2022 to analyze demographic, housing, and mode choice changes within a half-mile radius of stations built between 2010 and 2020.Findings indicated increased population density, racial diversification, and higher education levels near stations. Median household income and housing costs surged, signaling economic growth and gentrification. Urban renewal was evident with increased construction activity, rising rent and home values, and rise in remote work. Decline in public transportation usage was less significant near stations compared to city-wide. To enhance Los Angeles' existing TOD policies, several recommendations were proposed. Encouraging diverse housing types near transit stations through mixed-use zoning, multi-family homes, and ADUs can increase density without major disruption. Innovative housing models like community land trusts and modular housing can improve affordability. Implementing robust anti-displacement measures, such as extending rent control, can safeguard low-income residents from gentrification. Promoting economic development near transit stations through local hire policies can reduce unemployment and foster economic stability. Lastly, expanded monitoring of TOD areas are necessary to better understand residential and travel behaviors, refining strategies to promote sustainable development and ensure inclusive, resilient, and thriving transit-oriented communities in Los Angeles.