Searching for Home: A Snapshot of Immigrant Renters in Westlake/Pico Union
By: UCLA Community Scholars
There has been a growing conversation about rents in Los Angeles, particularly regarding the increasing unaffordability. The city has seen rising rental prices, even in the midst of staggering wages. In a study by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Los Angeles was labeled the most unaffordable rental market in the country. This label is in part due to the high number of renters in the City of Los Angeles. In the city, 52 percent of households are renters, which is higher than the national average of around 35 percent. In the Westlake/Pico Union neighborhoods of Los Angeles, renter rates are even higher with over 85 percent of households in Westlake/Pico Union self-identified as renters.
“Searching for Home: A Snapshot of Immigrant Renters in Westlake and Pico Union” provides a snapshot of renter conditions and housing supply in the Westlake and Pico Union area. Our purpose is to document the current rental market in Westlake and Pico Union and provide context to what renters in the area are experiencing. In this report we explain the basic demographics of the area, show current renter conditions and examine the current housing stock. The goal of this report is to better understand the Westlake and Pico Union neighborhoods for renter experience, so as to inform future housing development or policy decisions.
Our findings indicate that:
- 60 percent of renter occupied households are cost burdened
- 29 percent of renter occupied households are severely overcrowded
- 59 percent of the total population are immigrants
- 44 percent of the total population are undocumented immigrants
