Los Angeles river revitalization and housing affordability

The Los Angeles River flows through a 52 mile stretch of Los Angeles County bringing a vital source of water to the region and affecting the personal lives of millions of people. In the beginning part of the 21 st century, community members and local governments developed plans to revitalize the watershed and bring new opportunities to the river corridor. Since that time, projects have been developed and implemented to bring new ecological functions, recreational opportunities, river accessibility, and transportation modes to the river. The new functionality of river sites brings exciting and vital changes to enhance the health of the river and the communities alongside it. However, with these new changes come possible negative externalities.

The river’s new land functionality has the potential to lead to a decline in housing affordability in neighbourhoods along the river site. In cases around the world large scale revitalization efforts to green spaces have been attributed to green gentrification. A revitalized green space may result in exceptional rises in property values and rental prices. With the potential to stir displacement in the existing communities.

In my case study on the Los Angeles River Revitalization I look at several indicators of housing affordability to understand how the changing river functionality may be affecting the adjacent neighbourhoods. The research utilizes data related to housing costs, rental burdens, affordable housing assistance, and the actions of stakeholders to explore any trends to emerge since the adoption of the Los Angeles River Revitalization Plan.

The results of my research provide a mixed view of housing affordability around the Los Angeles River. When the entire stretch of the river is analysed for indicators of housing affordability there is no area that stands out with every available indicator. The Glendale Narrows Region of the Los Angeles Revitalization is at the greatest risk of worsening housing costs based on literature and views of stakeholders. However only a sharp increase in property values provides evidence for this using the quantitative data available.