LUCC talks affordable housing, workforce issues

Airbnb speculation is pricing out affordable housing in Los Angeles County 

Affordable housing, job training, economic development and transportation were key issues discussed by a panel of county leaders March 4 at a standing-room-only meeting of NACo’s Large Urban County Caucus.

With a population growth of 3.3 percent and housing growth of 2.2 percent in Los Angeles County, “we’re pricing ourselves right out of affordable housing,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger, a LUCC Steering Committee member. The median price for a home in the county is $550,000.

Airbnb is having a big impact on affordable housing in her county, Barger noted. “People are buying real estate and then renting it out. They are renting out homes in the Hollywood hills and renting them out for parties.” International investors, especially, are “absentee landlords,” she noted.

In the District of Columbia, the city-county uses a Housing Production Trust Fund and a Housing Preservation Trust Fund to help residents, said D.C. Deputy Mayor Courtney Snowden, a LUCC panelist.

Although affordable housing is a major challenge, panelist Michael Thurmond, chief executive officer of DeKalb County, Ga., said “the largest common denominator is a job.”

DeKalb County is working to put young people in jobs with its summer youth employment program, paying $9 an hour with a combination of federal and county funds, he said.

Having a viable workforce and providing job training are challenges for large urban counties, especially when they are trying to recruit new companies to the area. “The best way to train for a job is to have a job,” said Thurmond. “They need to learn the ‘soft skills’ of getting to work on time.”

Helping young people find jobs is also a way to deter crime. “If you want to reduce crime, you’ve got to provide jobs,” Thurmond noted.

In D.C., residents can get job experience by taking part in Infrastructure Academy, where they are trained for jobs working with the water company, transportation and green infrastructure, Snowden said. The average wage for those positions, she said is $48.56 an hour. “The pathway to the middle class does not require a college degree.”

In Los Angeles County, “our biggest challenge was doing away with high school wood shop and classes for mechanics,” Barger said. A new tech university that starts as early as 8th grade is teaching all skill sets that can help students eventually land “good six-figure jobs without a college degree.”