The housing experiences for the AAPI community in Los Angeles, by Adrian Bates.

The Housing Experiences for the AAPI Community in Los Angeles

By Adrian Bates

Los Angeles probably has the largest share of the Asian Americans and Pacific Islander than any other place. Generation of the AAPI people and their descendants have helped shaped LA to what it is today- the most diverse city in the country. The AAPI Heritage Month, gives us a unique opportunity for us to learn more about the experiences and challenges the AAPIs face in LA.

Well, even before we get there, I would like to offer my deepest condolences to the victims of the recent string of shootings against the Asians Americans. I also condemn strongly ball forms of white supremacy, anti-Asian racism, misogyny and xenophobia. The recent attacks are a stain to our American story and will undoubtedly have profound impacts on the lives of the victims and their families and to the community at large as well.

Asian Americans, just like many other minorities in the country (Blacks and Hispanics alike) have historically been victims of intense segregation and housing discrimination and understanding this crucial history is a critical step in shaping a more equitable future where housing is accessible to all. Drawing from a recent study by the National Coalition of Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD) and UCL, “Crisis to Impact: Reflecting on a Decade of Housing Counseling Services in Asian American Communities” we see that the AAPI community is severely cost-burdened as they are paying more than half of their household income towards housing and housing related costs.

The report found that AAPI renters are some of the most cost-burdened;

• 26% of the Asian renters are severely cost burdened. The report further highlights that that cost-burden varied by ethnicity where Bangladeshi, Vietnamese, and Pakistani renters experience the highest rates of severe cost-burden, at 41%, 34%, and 34%, respectively.

Additionally, the low-to-moderate income AAPI households are at a significant disadvantage of owning homes compared to the white households in the same income group.

• At least 37% of the Asian households in the low-tomoderate income range owned homes • And 22% of the NHOPI households in the same range were also homeowners. • On the other hand, 53% of the white households in the same category were homeowners.

The Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders face other unique challenges when it comes to housing.

• 54 percent of the cost burdened households cannot communicate in English fluently. • The Asians and NHOPI individuals are 4 and 7 times more likely to live in a multigenerational household compared to the whites.

The lack of proper communication makes access to social amenities more difficult.

During the AAPI Heritage Month, I think one of the best ways that we can help the AAPIs is by developing programs to respond to the growing immigrant and renter populations. Housing counselling agencies play an integral role in this as they are well positioned to improve the housing security for the low-income AAPIs.

Additionally, these agencies can strengthen services in the key areas to meet the needs of the growing AAPI population. Lastly, it is about time tht the local authorities start looking at disaggregating data across ethnicities. We must stop treating the AAPI households as a monolith as it over-simplifies the AAPI experiences.