Housing in LA is expensive. Here are some resources if you need help
YesYou don’t need me to tell you how expensive housing is in LA. Whether you are renting and have been trying to buy a home, prices have skyrocketed over the past 10 years. But consider this statistic: From 2010 to 2019, the city LOST about 111,000 homes considered affordable. for low-income households.
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Earlier this year, LA once again opened the waitlist lottery for its Section 8 Voucher Program, which helps low-income families and others struggling to find permanent housing. It received more than 223,000 applications, but only 30,000 were selected for the program (which receives federal funds). And still people can wait till 10 years to receive their checks.
10 years.
The last time a lottery for the program was held was in 2017, and some of those people on that list are still waiting.
The news of the 10-year wait time has been a blow to people who need housing – and who need it now. My colleague Julia Barajas took the floor to some of those affected by the wait time:
- Anita Velasquez is widowed and shares a one-bedroom apartment with her two daughters in Downey. “That’s not true,” she says.
- Frank Fisher has been homeless for 14 years and is working towards his GED. Having his own place, he says, “would be a great stepping stone to getting my life back on track. It would be security. That would be great.”
Housing Resources
More needs to be done to make housing affordable here. While waiting for this change, we have recovered you (or your friend’s). Julia researched housing resources in Southern California that might help people secure a home or get help.
- Discover the Housing Rights Center affordable housing list in LA and Ventura counties. (The association updates the list monthly.)
- Contact one of the LGBT Centers in Los Angeles nine facilities. The center strives to provide housing for young homeless people, as well as affordable housing for the elderly
- Apply for Section 8 accommodation in other placeslike Riverside County, whose waitlist application will remain open until Dec. 30. (You can apply to as many Section 8 waiting lists as you want, but you can only receive help from one agency.)
You can consult the full list here.
As always, stay happy and healthy, friends. There’s more news below – keep reading.
No more news
(After stopping pressing snooze)
- Tension was high as the Los Angeles City Council convened on Tuesday – the first time since five new members were sworn in. protesters kept calling for council member Kevin De León to resign following racist remarks made on a leaked recording and, more recently, an altercation with an activist that was caught on camera. His fellow board member Nithya Raman also join the choir again demand his resignation. Here’s how De León has responded so far by Twitter and in interviews.
- Aside from the drama, the LA City Council has approved Mayor Karen Bass’s emergency declaration on homelessness Tuesday. Here’s how it went.
- In a news conference detailing her plans, Mayor Bass said moving people quickly out of encampments and into housing would require “renting apartments and motel rooms all over the city.” But what exactly “main lease” mean?
- Individuals in Los Angeles listing homes on vacation rental sites like Airbnb and Vrbo are supposed to follow certain rules, such as listing ONLY primary residences. But questions have been raised as to whether these rules are applied.
- In order to deal with the unusual dilemma of not having enough quorum to swear in newly elected council members, The Mission Viejo City Council decided to appoint someone to the group for only 30 minutes to approve the results of the municipal elections. To understand how we got here, read this LAist story here.
- The City of Glendale is looking for its first poet laureate which will, among other things, be responsible for involving residents in reading and writing poetry. The new role is as part of an effort by the city to become more of a center for arts and culture in LA.
- Walgreens and CVS to pay various states including California $10 billionat settle lawsuits related to opioid abuse. California is expected to receive about $510 million.
- In a major scientific achievement, researchers at the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory were able to create more fusion energy that they didn’t have at the beginning – a first to produce a reaction that creates more energy than it consumes.
- Drugmaker Emergent BioSolutions is seeks Food and Drug Administration approval to sell Narcan opioid overdose drug over the counter, without the need for a prescription. As fentanyl overdoses increase across the country, Narcan has managed to reverse the effects.
- of President Joe Biden signature the Respect for Marriage Act, which codifies same-sex and interracial marriages into law, shows how he and we as a country have evolved.
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* At LAist, we will always bring the news to you freely, but we sometimes include links to other publications that may be behind a paywall. Thank you for your understanding!
Expect! One more thing…
The murder in a Silver Lake house that shook LA in the 1920s
Exterior view of the Oesterreich home in Silver Lake circa 1937 (left) and Mrs. Walburga Oesterreich standing in front of a jail cell.
(Courtesy of LAPL/LAPL/Herald-Examiner Collection)
The case involves a husband, wife and their attic in Silver Lake.
Before we get there, we have to start in Milwaukee. This is where Dolly Oesterreich and her husband lived before moving to Los Angeles. It’s also where Dolly met a 17-year-old boy named Otto Sanhuber when he was fixing his sewing machine. The two became lovers, and it came to a point where Dolly moved Otto to her attic in the Midwestern house.
For years, Otto lived secretly in the couple’s house. He came out of the attic when the husband wasn’t around and took care of Dolly’s requests. Otto later described himself as Dolly’s sex slave.
Otto would follow them to Los Angeles and one night Dolly and her husband had a fight and Otto got worried. When the police showed up a few hours later, they found the husband shot three times in the back and Dolly tied up in the closet.
If you want to know what happened, you can read learn more about this historic LA crime here.
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