How Los Angeles got so overcrowded

Los Angeles for decades advertised itself as an American Eden. But it ignored repeated warnings about the consequences of overcrowding on the working class. Now, when the situation is worse than ever, calls to fix it continue to go nowhere.

Today, we talk about an L.A. Times analysis that found that more people are squeezing into fewer rooms in L.A. than any other large county in America. And it’s been a disaster for public health, even before COVID-19 began to spread. Read the full transcript here.

Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guests: L.A. Times housing reporter Liam Dillon and features reporter Brittny Mejia

More reading:

Packed In: Overcrowded housing in Los Angeles has brought death by design

L.A.’s love of sprawl made it America’s most overcrowded place. The poor pay a deadly price

One family’s desperate act to escape overcrowding