Placing and Studying the Action

This chapter examines the fight for housing affordability, which is just one instance of civic action. Advocates across the coalitions and organizations in this study talked about housing “affordability” as one of their primary concerns, and often the biggest one. When they said housing in Los Angeles was unaffordable and there was a “housing crisis,” they usually meant housing was too expensive for many ordinary Angelenos or frequently unavailable at an affordable price. Using the same language of affordability, it makes sense to ask about the big picture. Is housing unaffordability usually temporary or chronic? Does it result from deep, institutional processes or contingencies relatively easy to alter? Does it affect only particular kinds of people or places? It makes sense to ask about this study's locale too. What might make housing conditions and problems in Los Angeles distinctive, or characteristic of life in the United States, or global, or maybe all three? The chapter provides a brief sketch of crucial contexts that affect the affordability of housing and make it potentially a problem.