Los Angeles Community Action Network
Los Angeles Community Action Network is a grassroots organization based in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1999, LACAN works to organize low-income and homeless residents through advocacy, community organizing, litigation and education. The organization focuses on issues such as housing rights and the civil rights of the unhoused population.The organization is known for prioritizing the leadership of those directly affected by the issues it addresses.
Projects and initiatives
EcoHood Project
Through its EcoHood project, LACAN aims to build more affordable and energy-efficient housing that is quicker to construct, addressing the increased demand for housing since the pandemic and reducing the ecological footprint.Impact of Structural Racism on Women in Skid Row
LACAN also released a report titled “The Impact of Structural Racism on Women in Skid Row,” highlighting how structural racism affects unhoused women of color, particularly focusing on issues like family separation and child removal by the Department of Children and Family Services, and was informed by the Downtown Women's Action Coalition.Housing advocacy
LACAN members, including former professionals, veterans, and long-time residents, have fought against gentrification, landlord abuses, and city policies. The organization's efforts led to a moratorium on housing conversions and a residential hotel preservation ordinance, protecting 19,000 low-income housing units from demolition or upscale conversion.In 2017, LACAN has filed an appeal and led protests against a proposed 33-story high-rise in Downtown LA's Fashion District, arguing that the city should prioritize housing the homeless over approving luxury residential projects, especially given the high vacancy rate in existing units.
in 2023, Pete White, executive director of LACAN, criticized the expanding outreach efforts in Los Angeles as a "smoke and mirrors" strategy, dubbing it the "outreach industrial complex," suggesting it's more about appearance than real solutions to homelessness.
In 2024, LACAN organizer Adam Smith criticized Los Angeles' prioritization of criminalization over addressing homelessness, citing the failure of policies like LAMC 41.18, which resulted in belongings of unhoused residents being confiscated without adequate housing or shelter alternatives, as revealed in a recent LACAN survey of 100 individuals.