The Double Duplex: One Response to Los Angeles’s Overcrowding Crisis

Introduction  Even before the January 2025 fires, Los Angeles (LA) was suffering from an acute housing shortage, which resulted in high housing costs and overcrowding.[1] According to 2023 census data, about 16 percent of renter-occupied homes in Los Angeles County were classified as overcrowded—one of the highest rates in the country.[2] This issue is more pronounced in specific LA neighborhoods, such as Koreatown and Pico-Union (90006 ZIP Code) and Boyle Heights (90033 ZIP Code), with overcrowdin

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