Hundreds of Housing Activists, Clergy, Community, and Union Members — Including some of the 11,000 City Workers Who Shut Down Los Angeles in August — Will Rally in Echo Park and Demand that LA Take Bold Action to Combat Homelessness Through the Development of Permanent Supportive Housing on City Property
Los Angeles — At a rally Wednesday, the Fix LA Alliance will demand that Los Angeles officials support Echo Park United Methodist Church’s (UMC) plans to build as many as 120 permanent supportive housing units in a section of the neighborhood north of Echo Park Lake — significantly increasing the number of affordable units planned for the area.
Currently, two separate private real-estate development projects are underway in the area that will bring only 30 low-income housing units via density bonus incentives. That’s not nearly enough, says the Alliance, a coalition of more than 30 community groups and union partners ready to fight and win for the City of LA.
Echo Park UMC’s plan includes entering into an unprecedented joint-development agreement with the City of Los Angeles to build the housing units on both the Edendale Branch Library and UMC lot, which are adjacent to each other.
“The status-quo won’t fix the homelessness crisis,” says Echo Park United Methodist Church Pastor Frank Wulf. “It’s time that we start thinking outside the box through city partnerships to rapidly build the permanent supportive housing that puts our unhoused population on the path to stable housing with much needed supportive services.”
The plan should serve as a model for how LA can act creatively with community partners to build more affordable housing across the city. During the ongoing contract negotiations between the City of LA and the Coalition of LA City Unions — a founding member of the Fix LA Alliance — the Alliance has presented common good bargaining demands for the construction of 2,000 permanent supportive housing units citywide built by union labor.
“Decades of neglect and disinvestment has led us to a situation where half of Angelenos spend over 50% of their income on rent and 46,000 people are living on our streets,” said LA City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, who represents Echo Park. “We need a huge expansion of affordable and permanent supportive housing construction to solve our city’s biggest problems and make LA more affordable.”
- WHO: Hundreds of members of the FIX LA Alliance — a coalition of more than 30 community groups and union partners ready to fight and win for the City of LA.
- WHAT: A rally and press conference where the FIX LA Alliance calls on the City of LA to commit to building 2,000 permanent supportive housing units citywide, including 120 in Echo Park.
- WHEN: Wednesday, December 6, 2023, at 9:00 a.m.
- WHERE: 1226 N Alvarado St, Los Angeles, CA
- VISUALS: Housing activists, clergy, community members, and City Workers holding signs and chanting pro-housing, pro-worker sentiments.
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The FIX LA Alliance is a coalition of community groups, faith-based organizations, working families, labor groups, community nonprofits, and others who are working to win for residents in Los Angeles and fight to make LA the most affordable, tenant friendly City in America.
The Fix LA Alliance has also presented common good bargaining proposals that include:
- the construction of 10,000 social housing units with union labor;
- strengthening LA’s tenant protections;
- setting a housing minimum wage for LA City workers;
- filling all vacancies within City departments to enhance community services and expanding good, union jobs — including in the Housing Department (LAHD);
- reconstituting and fully funding the “City Worker Next Door” program to providesupport for employees to afford a home or rent in the City, offer similar housing assistance to all rent-burned employees no matter where they live, and ensure they are prioritized for social and permanent supportive housing units.
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Contact: Roxane Marquez, (213) 705-1078, Roxane.Marquez@seiu721.org
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