Nia Bowers
The demographic that has been largely checked out is now checking in. Here’s what that looks like ahead of a pivotal election season.
For generations, young voters have largely stayed out of local politics in Los Angeles. They show up for the big, flashy, national elections, but mid-year engagement has remained low. The reasons for young voter apathy vary, from feeling like their votes don’t matter to simply not being educated or aware of issues or candidates. Today, however, that’s all changing.
As the June 2 election grows closer, young voters are showing up, engaging, taking up causes, and rallying for them. And the reasons aren’t abstract. You can see them on every block, from lease renewals to morning commutes. Local civic organizations are doing what they can to wake young people up and get them back into the political participation game, and that work seems to be paying off.
They’re Connecting Voter Apathy to Real Life Results
Interestingly enough, the state of the nation seems to be cluing young people back into local politics. It’s no surprise that most people show up for national elections because those elections get the most attention. Presidential candidates show up on television, streaming services, social media, and podcasts. Local candidates and issues rarely get so much attention.
However, as the country heads in a direction that many young people are unhappy with, they’re starting to recognize that those local elections do indeed make a big difference. The local sheriff, mayor, and city attorney can all influence how crime and public safety are managed. Housing and affordability, transportation, and local services all impact daily life.
In short, when things go wrong on a national level, residents can take comfort in the actions of their local officials and legislation… or not. A young person may look at national political climate shifts and be unhappy with the direction, and they wonder what they can do about it. The answer, increasingly, is to get involved in local politics, because it is local politics that generally affects their daily lives.
The Housing Crisis Is Hitting Them at Home
To bring this discussion to a more specific and individual issue, young people leaving their parents’ homes or graduating from college simply cannot afford to live in the city they love. Especially for millennials who grew up in Los Angeles, or arrived at a young age and have worked here for years, the housing costs are skyrocketing beyond their grasp. Now, they’re having children, and can’t afford to buy a family-size home.
Nearly 6 in 10 renters in LA County spend more than 30% of their income on housing, and a recent LA Magazine article cited a resident spending 50% of her paycheck on rent and transportation. Those numbers are pricing young, hardworking people out of the city, and those young people are increasingly recognizing that local elections have a lot to do with the crisis.
The Los Angeles City Council is the decision-making body that determines zoning, permitting, rent policy, development approvals and the city budget. It also passes legislation that relates to the city’s homeless population, poverty and solutions therein. Whoever sits on that council shapes what gets built, where, and at what cost. Young city residents are waking up to this fact and looking for council members who will fight to keep housing affordable for them.
Rampant Spending Is Triggering Their Anger
On the flip side, those same young residents are tired of learning about out-of-control budgets. Audits of homelessness spending have shown that the city spent billions, but kept incomplete records with no clear path to measure outcomes. At the same time, residents were promised thousands of new housing units, only to find that those targets fell short as the cost rose into the hundreds of thousands of dollars per unit.
Misappropriation of funds and lack of accountability around the city budget have been issues for years. Meanwhile, taxes in the city have been rising, and the cost of living keeps increasing. In short, the people are paying more and more to live in Los Angeles without any clarity on how their tax dollars benefit their daily lives.
Younger residents have long been skeptical of political institutions, but now that skepticism is turning into confirmation after confirmation. With each confirmation, their anger fuels action, which is channeled into political engagement. They’re realizing that if their money is being mismanaged, the solution is to elect better oversight.
They Don’t Want to Leave the City They Love
Finally, it’s important to realize that, while many publications will cite the flight of Los Angeles and greater California residents to other states, many young residents don’t want to leave. Indeed, their love for their city is what makes them so angry at the social and political outcomes. They want to stay in the city they call home, the city that promised them bright futures, but they want it to fulfill those promises.
Today, a large majority of residents say they don’t feel safe walking alone at night. The streets and sidewalks are showing clear signs of decay and disrepair. And the city that has been so well known for so many years for its culture, energy and opportunity is becoming a shadow of itself in their eyes. The choices young people have now aren’t whether to leave or stay but whether to accept it or fight it, and they’re choosing to fight.
If the 2022 mayoral election is any indication, young residents are ready to educate themselves on local issues, unite around their economic concerns, and take action. Finally, young residents are realizing that local elections, far more than national ones, directly impact the issues they’ve become so frustrated about. They’re seeing that their votes can help turn the city into one they love living in again.
The June Election Is Here
Eight council seats are on the ballot this June, and the majority of young Angelenos want a functional, livable city. Now, they’re organizing around the connection between those seats and their daily lives. It would be a mistake to think of this engagement as an anomaly. Rather, it’s a signal that local elections are winnable by everyday people when they show up. It will be interesting to see those who care most get into the game before it’s too late.