Dartmouth Events

Professor Michael Lens of UCLA gives the first lecture of the "Crossroads: Intersections of Los Angeles' Energy, Environmental, Housing, and Racial Justice Movements." The series will feature academics, grassroots activists, lawyers, local government officials, and nonprofit organizations and will focus on three interconnected landscapes: housing resources, policing, and environmental racism

About the Talk: Racial exclusion in housing has long been a feature of US cities, with devastating consequences, particularly for Black families and communities. While the racial evolution of Los Angeles differs from other cities in many ways, various forms of racial exclusion are a hallmark of Los Angeles's past, and have evolved to race neutral forms of exclusion in the present. This talk will briefly summarize this history and link this legacy to continuing forms of housing exclusion that persist and contribute to housing insecurity, homelessness, and gentrification in Los Angeles today. 

About the Speaker: Michael Lens is Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy, and Associate Faculty Director of the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. Professor Lens’s research and teaching explore the potential of public policy to address housing market inequities that lead to negative outcomes for low-income families and communities of color. This research involves housing interventions such as subsidies, tenant protections, and production. Ongoing research projects focus on the neighborhood context of eviction, housing supply in California, and a book project that examines fifty years of neighborhood change in Black neighborhoods following the 1968 Fair Housing Act.

Watch a video of this talk