Los Angeles voters are sending a pretty blunt message: build more places to live, and fast. A new poll commissioned by the Los Angeles Business Council Institute finds broad support among Angelenos for adding housing across income levels. Roughly seven in 10 respondents said housing is difficult to afford, and 63% said they have considered leaving the city because of costs. The survey of 751 registered Los Angeles voters was conducted in mid-April and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
Voters also ranked homelessness and housing affordability among the city's top concerns, but many have little faith that government can actually fix things. FM3 Research conducted the poll for the LABC Institute; as reported by the Los Angeles Times, 66% said they had "not too much" or no confidence the state could improve affordability.
What Voters Back
When it comes to concrete strategies, respondents showed strong support for changes that would speed construction and spread the benefits of new housing. Large majorities backed making underutilized state land available for housing, expanding first-time homebuyer programs, using new construction technologies to cut costs, and fast-tracking projects for middle-income residents near transit, according to MyNewsLA.com.
What Officials Said
Mary Leslie, president of the LABC Institute, said "the voters are demanding more be done to create a more livable city." Richard Ziman, the group's founding vice chair, warned that "the status quo is not working," per MyNewsLA.com.
Political Moment
The timing is not accidental. The poll landed just ahead of June's primary, where housing and homelessness are expected to loom large in races for mayor and governor. The Los Angeles Times also reported that 48% of voters would support substantially increasing the number of new housing units while 34% would not, a split that points to an appetite for more homes but skepticism that construction alone will bring rents down.
What Comes Next
The Los Angeles Business Council has for years pushed for reforms intended to accelerate housing production, and it is hosting its Housing, Transportation and Jobs Summit on April 24, where the survey and related policy proposals will be discussed, per the Los Angeles Business Council website. Turning that public backing into actual buildings will still require changes to zoning, permitting timelines and financing, obstacles that City Hall and Sacramento will have to confront.
Polls measure opinion, not outcomes, and even strong majorities on a questionnaire do not guarantee that specific projects will survive the city's complex approvals process. Still, the results give local leaders a clearer mandate to keep housing front and center in the weeks of campaigning and policy decisions ahead.
