What About The Million Over-Crowded People In Los Angeles County?
PLANNING WATCH - Since nearly all of the discussion of the unhoused people in the Los Angeles area focuses on the homeless, we need to consider the over-crowded. These are the people who still have a roof over the head, but are mostly confined to small apartments. They are one step away from being homeless, and they include lots of kids. The photo above demonstrates the conditions in which the overcrowed live, packing themselves and their belongings into a small space. This is not by choice, but an obvious way for over a million people to avoid living on the streets.
They still have a place to live, but the question is “for how long?” Will the families eventually get back on their feet, or will they end up sleeping in their car, maintaining a kempt appearance so the parents can continue to work and the kids go to school? These are basic questions for the nearly homeless, and the future does not bode well for them. Layoffs are rising, and the State of California has a declining population. Two indicators that the overcrowded population will continue to grow, as more people double-up for the foreseeable future.
Why is this happening now? The basis answer is that the housing options available to most of the US population, especially in the LA area, are not good. Layoffs are increasing and overcrowding is one result, and they will get worse for the foreseeable future, despite LA’s declining population.
The multitude of local homeless programs focus on those who can’t afford a place to live, not those with a roof over their head, but who live in very tight quarters.
Charlie Chaplin as the little Tramp walking into a labor movement.
LA’s overcrowded population. Last year LA City’s population declined by 10,000 people and LA County by 62,000 people . Nevertheless, this population loss did not reduce the price of housing, a major reason why homeless and overcrowding is increasing. The consequences are obvious.
“More than half of Californians rank the cost of living, inflation, and the economy — along with housing cost and availability — as the most important issues facing California today.” (LA Times, April 9, 2026)
Overcrowded housing is not new in Los Angeles. In fact, it can be traced back over 100 years, especially during the Depression and immediately after WWII. What is different during this housing crisis is the reduction or total elimination of Federal aid to local housing authorities. Cities and counties are now on their own, with local housing groups focused, with little success, on housing for the homeless, but not the overcrowded.
What are the options? In a better world, the best option would be to restore the public housing options cancelled nearly 50 years ago by the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUD).
But there is virtually no chance that Congress will refund these HUD housing programs. There is a miniscule chance that local officials will use their tight budgets to fund some programs that lost funding half century ago. Short of these options, there is no reason to expect HUD to restore its former housing programs.
Therefore, the public needs to clammer like never before to revive some of those cancelled programs. Will they succeed at first? It is doubtful, but they need to return again and again until they finally reach an accord with the Federal government to (re)fund them.
If not successful, both homelessness and overcrowding will continue to rise, even with major Democratic Party victories in the recent election.
(Dick Platkin is a retired Los Angeles city planner who writes about planning issues, mostly in LA. He is a board member of United Neighborhoods for Los Angeles (UN4LA). Previous columns are available at the CityWatchLA archives).
