A new report on the Los Angeles County housing market shows some glimmers of hope amid deeply entrenched challenges that have led to rising home prices, persistent homelessness, and fewer young families.
More affordable rental units are being built, the county’s population is recovering, and homelessness appears to have leveled off, according to the second-annual State of Los Angeles County Housing and Neighborhoods (SOLACHAN), which was issued by the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. The Lusk Center is a joint program between the USC Price School of Public Policy and the USC Marshall School of Business.
The report chalked up the recent progress to sustained investment and new policies that have removed some of the barriers to development.
“We’re finally seeing progress, including twice as many affordable rental units built,” said Caroline Bhalla, The Lusk Center’s Director of Civic Engagement at the report’s launch event. “I hope this report can track L.A. County’s progress over the next 5, 10 — even 20 years — so every Angeleno can look at the numbers to determine how much progress we’re making.”
The report’s mission is to support leaders in L.A. County so that all Angelenos – regardless of income, race, or neighborhood – have a stable place to call home.
Notwithstanding the recent progress, problems persist. The area is still losing younger residents, rents continue to rise to levels that strain the pocketbooks of even higher-income households, and housing production lags demand.
Housing Supply: Slow but Meaningful Progress, with Modest Gains in Affordability
- Housing production has dropped significantly since the 1950s, even as the county’s population has continued to grow. An average of more than 3,000 housing units were built every year in the 1970s. That’s less than half as many — about 1,400 – compared to every year in the 2010s.
- In 2025, 19% of new renter units were affordable to low-income households. This is nearly double the share of affordable new renter units over the previous seven years.
- Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) continued to grow in popularity: Between 2022 and 2025, ADUs accounted for one-third (around 34,150 ADUs) of all new Certificates of Occupancy. ADUs made up 37% of total new housing units in L.A. County in 2025, higher than any other year in the data.
- Despite this source of housing growth, L.A. County continues to fall short of its state-mandated housing goals.
Population Characteristics: A Rebound, But Fewer Young Families
- In 2024, L.A. County saw the first signs of population growth since it began declining in 2015. Year-over-year, the county gained around 100,000 new residents. This mirrors a nationwide trend in metropolitan growth, partially reversing pandemic-era losses.
- Households in L.A. County keep growing overall, though 2024 marked the first decline in single-person households in years, breaking with last year’s findings and echoing a national trend.
- L.A. County’s under-24 population continued to shrink, alongside a decline in family households with children, mirroring patterns seen nationwide.
- Homelessness fell 5% in 2025, to less than 67,800 people, and was flat in 2026. But the total unhoused population is still nearly double the national rate.
Homeowners: A Market Stuck in Place
- Homeownership remains far less common in L.A. County compared with the rest of California and the country.
- Over the past decade, homeownership rates have fallen across all income groups, but middle-income households have experienced the steepest declines.
- Demand for mortgages in L.A. remains historically low, with fewer applications in the past three years than during the aftermath of the Great Recession.
Renters: More High Earners Renting, More Low Earners Burdened
- Compared to a decade ago, a greater share of renters in L.A. County are high-income (earning over $150,000), a sign that more high-income households are remaining renters for longer as barriers to homeownership mount.
- In 2024, more than half of renters (57%) in L.A. County are rent burdened, meaning they spent more than 30% of their income on rent. Black renters consistently face the highest rent burden, with Hispanic/Latino renters facing the second highest.
- The share of households that are severely rent burdened (earning between $50,000 and $100,000) has doubled in the past decade.
The report’s launch event opened with an address by Scott Laurie, CEO of The Olson Company, a homebuilder. He recounted his 11-year-old daughter’s response to his observation that many people can no longer afford to live in L.A. County.
“She said, ‘You know what I think, everybody should have a home.’”
