Lack of affordable housing in Los Angeles’ Venice Beach neighborhood inspires activism and art

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles gallery installation offers a unique art-meets-data look at the eviction crisis in the Venice Beach neighborhood. The exhibit is titled “Where Has All The (affordable) Housing Gone?” It gathers maps, photos, statistics, paintings, poems and the stories of people who have been evicted from their homes. That includes the artist behind the project. Venice became a center of the Los Angeles homelessness crisis during the pandemic. The boardwalk attracts an estimated 10 million visitors per year and the widening wealth gap has become increasingly apparent. Data released Friday by the nonprofit Angeleno Project says some 80% of low-income Los Angeles renters pay over half their income toward housing costs.