Several California gubernatorial candidates are scheduled to appear Friday at the Los Angeles Business Council’s Housing, Transportation and Jobs Summit at UCLA as housing affordability remains a key election issue.
The daylong event at the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center is set to begin at 8 a.m. Friday and run through the afternoon.
Scheduled participants in the gubernatorial panel include entrepreneur and political commentator Steve Hilton, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, billionaire financier Tom Steyer and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The discussion will be moderated by Los Angeles-based journalist Alex Cohen.
Organizers said the summit comes as concerns over housing costs and the broader cost of living continue to weigh on voters ahead of upcoming state and local elections.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, are among the featured speakers, along with Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson and Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, organizers said.
Additional speakers include Lourdes Castro Ramirez, president and CEO of the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, and Tomiquia Moss, secretary of the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, among others from the housing and finance sectors.
Panels throughout the day will bring together housing policymakers, developers and finance leaders to discuss ways to accelerate housing production across the region, organizers said.
The summit follows the release Thursday of a Los Angeles Business Council Institute-commissioned poll examining voter attitudes on housing policy, homelessness and local government performance.
The poll found that about seven in 10 Angelenos say it is difficult to afford housing, including more than half of homeowners and 86% of renters.
Three-quarters of renters said they have considered leaving the city due to housing costs, compared with 63% of voters overall, according to the survey.
Voters expressed broad support for policies aimed at increasing housing supply, reducing costs and addressing homelessness at both the local and state levels.
Among local proposals, 71% of voters favored expanding a Los Angeles law that fast-tracks low-income housing to include projects for middle-income residents near public transit, while 23% opposed the idea.
Nearly two-thirds supported automatic approval for apartment developments that dedicate 20% of units to low-income residents.
The poll also found strong support for building rental housing for a wide range of groups, including veterans, seniors, public service workers and middle-class families with children.
At the state level, large majorities supported proposals such as making underutilized state land available for housing, using new construction technologies to reduce development costs and expanding first-time homebuyer programs.
“Despite billions of dollars in investment and new policies, housing concerns have only become more acute for Angelenos throughout the city, regardless of their age, income, or race,” Los Angeles Business Council Institute President Mary Leslie said in a statement. “The voters are demanding more be done to create a more livable city, and that means more housing for everyone from the unhoused to middle-class families throughout Los Angeles.”
The survey also highlighted skepticism among voters about where new housing should be built and whether increased construction will lower rents, reflecting ongoing tensions in addressing the housing crisis.
“As this poll clearly indicates, Angelenos are sending a clear and urgent message: the status quo is not working,” said Richard Ziman, founding vice chair of the LABC. “We need to move faster … and build more low and moderate-income housing to preserve the promise and affordability of Los Angeles.”
The poll of 751 registered Los Angeles voters was conducted in mid-April and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.