Paved Paradise – A Podcast About Housing in LA

When I first got to LA in 2003, it seemed like the land of opportunity. In my starry-eyed opinion, you could be anything you wanted, and enjoy a quality of life that included backyards, and swimming pools, and year-round sunshine. But that was always just an illusion – a shiny veneer smeared on a city on the brink. The truth was, it was becoming an impossible place to afford, even then, and the city-wide housing crisis can no longer be ignored. With gentrification sweeping neighborhoods across the city, home prices skyrocketing, long-time residents facing displacement, and our unhoused neighbors setting up tent cities under every freeway overpass, my conversations about livability in LA have been overwhelmingly dominated by discussions of housing. From artists to activists to young people just starting out, so many Angelenos are asking how they can find their place in the city without hurting anyone. But as one of my friends put it, “There’s no ethical consumption in the LA real estate market.”

So this podcast, which began as a broader investigation into the urban history of LA, has ended up about the core societal value of housing as a human right. It is told through the voices of residents,  activists, artists, and city officials. Together, we examine historical events and cultural contexts that have influenced our current housing mess, and talk with many people on the front lines of land use questions, anti-eviction work, tenants rights, and services for our growing numbers of unhoused neighbors. Throughout are the experiences of artists, who in many cases opened doors for me into communities and ongoing conversations about the culture of place, history, identity, and social cohesion – those intangible influences that mark social movements and may hold the key to collectively imagining a different future. This podcast was created between 2017 – 2019, so a lot has changed – but sadly, a lot has also stayed the same.

On the other side of listening to this, you will likely have more questions than answers – I know I still do. But at least we can walk together with our eyes wide open, through a city that is no longer working for its most vulnerable — and increasingly, for anyone at all. And maybe, just maybe, we can figure out how to seize back our right to the city.

Sue Bell Yank
pavedparadisepodcast [at] gmail [dot] com