Los Angeles Business Council

Workforce Housing Scorecard for Los Angeles
Fact Sheet

What:

The Workforce Housing Scorecard of Los Angeles, a bi-annual production, will rank Los Angeles’ 88 cities to assess how well each city provides and plans for housing its workforce. In a concise, precise and easy to read manner, the report will show the critical link between economic competitiveness and an adequate housing supply and provide stakeholders with the tools they need to face one of the largest threats to our economy, the “Brain Drain.” The “Brain Drain” was coined to describe the alarming numbers of young professionals leaving the Southern California region – citing the lack of affordable housing and intolerable work commutes.

The Los Angeles Business Council and its partners have modeled the Scorecard after the report recently published by the Orange County Business Council (OCBC), an immensely successful first-of-its-kind comprehensive evaluation of the current and future state of their housing supply. The OCBC and the Scorecard’s sponsors received national media attention in periodicals such as the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. As a consequence, the OCBC continues to persuade more cities to rethink their housing strategy and adopt new policies based on long-term growth realities.

Why:

Many of Los Angeles’ businesses will relocate or close their doors if the housing supply and lack of affordability is not addressed. These two issues are causing a myriad of problems for business – most notably – decreased productivity, high-turnover, long work commutes and an overall diminished quality of life.
Data produced by the Housing Scorecard will be presented to all 88 Mayors and City Councils in the County of Los Angeles and to the Board of Supervisors. The findings will help to inform policy makers about the steps and policies that must be taken to establish the workforce required to ensure continued economic growth.
Online toolkits will be provided to policymakers, housing leaders and employers. This resource will give, a) examples of successful affordable housing programs and policies and provide the criteria needed for successful duplication, b) suggest potential legislation addressing existing barriers to increased housing supply and c) ways that businesses can be more proactively interface with their municipalities in order to enact policies that will help them stay in business and remain in their city.

Who:

The Scorecard is the first-of-its-kind campaign to bring together Los Angeles employers of every size and industry to articulate their mounting concerns about a changing workforce and poor housing availability in Los Angeles County. 10 of the largest employers in Los Angeles County have joined the Scorecard’s Steering Committee and are active supporters of the campaign. Our major sponsor is Washington Mutual. Sponsors and steering committee members include the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, Psomas, Fannie Mae, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, UCLA, LAUSD, Vons and American Value Partners.

In addition, a distinguished panel of peer reviewers will oversee the research conducted by Dr. Wallace Walrod. Dr. Walrod is the Managing Partner of TCCG Tech Coast Consulting Group, a well known strategic planning and economic research firm that serves major corporate, government, and non-profit clients. Well-known urban planners and demographers from educational institutions and civic organizations, including UCLA, USC, Loyola Marymount and the United Way of LA will comprise this panel.

When:

The Los Angeles Business Council unveiled the Workforce Housing Scorecard on September 7, 2007 at the 7th Annual Mayoral Housing Summit. The Scorecard rankings will be released at the 2008 Mayoral Housing Summit next fall. The Scorecard findings will be published in booklet form and distributed to stakeholders throughout Los Angeles County.

Where:

All 88 cities of Los Angeles County will be ranked in the Scorecard findings.

How:

The Scorecard will assign each city a score that combines the city’s ranking in four key measures.

Total job growth – It will reward cities that promote job growth.
Total housing growth - It will reward cities that promote housing growth.
Jobs to housing ratio – It will reward cities for past AND future balanced jobs/housing growth.

Change in housing density – It will reward cities with inclusive housing policies and penalizes cities that are less hospitable.

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