HOUSING, RENTER PROTECTIONS, and HOMELESSNESS

Chelsea is a champion for the housing people need to live prosperous and diverse lifestyles here in West Hollywood.

The quality of someone’s life is directly correlated to their zip code — and we know from our own experience that living in West Hollywood is truly life-changing.  West Hollywood’s 10 Domains of Livability beckon us to create a built environment that suits the long lives people live in our community.

And still, there are many ways we can make finding and maintaining a home here in West Hollywood more affordable and attainable by offering renters stronger protections and resources for support, and by creating more opportunities to build housing and even own a home in West Hollywood.

• As a renter, Chelsea knows the feeling of disempowerment and frustration that too often falls on tenants. West Hollywood was founded on the values of strong renter protections, and critical to this value are the subsidies and protections needed to keep renters housed, which need reinforcement and expansion.

• As a member of the City’s Rent Stabilization Ad-hoc Committee, Chelsea is actively working to create stronger protections for renters, including a more proactive approach to enforcement issues to alleviate the burden on tenants.

• Chelsea serves on the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency as an alternate for Supervisor Lindsey Horvath where she advances investment in affordable housing and renter protection solutions across LA County, giving the City a unique role in advancing housing solutions throughout the region.

• Her voting record on Council demonstrates strong and consistent support for continued investment in affordable housing through land acquisition, partnership with nonprofit housing developers, and creative financing solutions to create more tools for affordability.

Chelsea will continue to champion education, policy, and resources to maintain housing stability throughout our City. 

Homelessness is dramatically impacted by housing affordability and availability.  The number of people who cannot afford to stay in their homes and end up unhoused reflects our responsibility to enforce strong protections for renters and provide rental subsidies to those who can no longer afford their housing, as well as create the new housing development necessary to meet our RHNA targets. 

Climate change demands that we consider our built environment and identify thoughtful and creative solutions to mitigate these evolving challenges. Chelsea will continue to be a vocal champion for livability and affordability in West Hollywood.

MOBILITY SOLUTIONS FOR A MODERN CITY 

Traffic congestion pollutes the air and takes time away from our lives and families. West Hollywood’s 1.9 square miles are prime for a robust, interconnected, and highly functioning mobility network that gets people where they need to go safely, inexpensively, and on time. 

Living without a car for the last decade has exposed Chelsea to thoughtful opportunities to improve mobility throughout West Hollywood and has made more apparent the vulnerabilities, the dangers, and the opportunities for transformation within our existing mobility network and infrastructure. The lack of protected bike lanes makes micro-mobility a high-risk option that many cannot choose. Older adults and disabled community members have inadequate transportation resources to meet their unique needs.

West Hollywood’s Art on the Outside program, the rich architectural beauty and history, and our vibrant business community afford us abundant possibilities to enjoy greater community engagement from the street level.

Pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists alike, in addition to our business community, benefit from comprehensive enhancements to our mobility network and Chelsea has been a driving force for this change by championing climate-smart and safety-focused alternatives to ongoing transportation challenges throughout West Hollywood, including the K-Line Northern Extension and the Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) to fund its’ construction on an accelerated timeline, bringing this project to the City years ahead of schedule.

ADDRESSING UNMET COMMUNITY NEEDS

West Hollywood has an extensive scope of service offerings that include mental health, sexual and reproductive healthcare, and homeless services, which benefit people all across LA County. Still, gaps exist within these programs — food insecurity challenges our community members, and life-saving resources for sexual violence and homelessness must be made accessible within West Hollywood.  Chelsea will work tirelessly to address these places where people have unmet needs.

As a nonprofit industry worker with frontline social service provider experience, Chelsea knows the challenges of this work firsthand and is an advocate for communities of care. The service provider industry is burnt out after two years of frontline work through the pandemic. This impacts retention, which impacts service delivery, which impacts community members relying on these services. 

Growing our local economy affords the City new opportunities to support people’s livelihoods in West Hollywood. Our business community is an essential partner in this work and Chelsea will be a bridge-builder to connect these aligned entities. By leveraging creative strategies to increase revenue in the city, Chelsea will create new opportunities for increased, sustained funding to these important life-affirming community resources to improve access and transform the quality of care and service delivery in West Hollywood.

Chelsea has served on West Hollywood’s Homelessness Subcommittee, championed the opening of the Holloway Transitional Housing Program, and stewarded a $1 million increase to West Hollywood’s social service programs through her work on the Budget Subcommittee.

A SAFER COMMUNITY FOR ALL

Tight-knit communities are the best promoters of safety and West Hollywood has typically been an extremely tight-knit community. Chelsea is committed to making the city a truly safe place to live, work, and raise a family. Not just by responding when something goes wrong, but by investing in the trust, services, protections, and community connections that help people feel secure in their daily lives.

West Hollywood is a safe haven for queer people and a Sanctuary City for immigrants and we champion these values boldly. For Chelsea, a safe community means ensuring every resident, worker, and visitor can live openly, seek help without fear, and know their city is standing with them.

As a City, we recognize the threats to safety that our community members experience and we have a history of enacting community-specific safety protections to address antisemitism, Islamophobia, Xenophobia, anti-Asian hate, and racism of all forms. Chelsea will continue this commitment to providing direct support and protection to community members under threat. 

As a certified member of the CERT Program, Chelsea has developed the skills to build community resilience to tackle complex safety challenges and address emergency response. Her hands-on experience makes her an effective voice on the City Council to bring about impactful measures — including an expansion of the Ambassador program — to ensure our neighborhoods are safe, positive, environments. 

Chelsea has gained the necessary experience in providing accountability by overseeing contracts through her professional work and with service provider agencies through the Human Services Commission. West Hollywood’s public safety resources will be well-managed under Chelsea’s leadership.

THRIVING TOGETHER

Cities are supposed to be places where people can build better lives, but too often they are becoming places only the wealthiest can afford. West Hollywood needs to be a city where everyone has the chance to live, work, and thrive. That means putting economic opportunity and affordability at the center of everything we do to bring stability to the lives of working families.

A sense of stability is essential — growing up as the daughter of a construction worker and working minimum-wage jobs, Chelsea understands this firsthand. We live in a region where too many people do not know where their next job will come from while others are working several jobs to make ends meet. 

A healthy economy bolsters the essential workers who make our businesses thrive by investing in all aspects of their life. Workers have to be able to afford to live near their jobs, access reliable transportation, and benefit from the prosperity they help create. When workers are supported, local businesses are stronger, neighborhoods are more stable, and the whole city is better off.

Chelsea fundamentally supports working families, fair wages, secure benefits, safe working conditions, and pay equity. As WeHo and the region continue to rebound from the impacts of the pandemic and wildfires, we must stabilize and support our workforce. We rely on our service and healthcare industries more than ever and we must continue to safeguard the employees that keep our economy stable. A sustainable local economy should not come at the expense of workers and businesses.

BUILDING A GREENER, MORE RESILIENT WEST HOLLYWOOD

Across West Hollywood, we are already seeing the impacts of our climate crisis--from rising temperatures to the growing need for shade and more resilient public spaces. If we do not act quickly, these challenges will only become more severe. As a councilmember, Chelsea is committed to making sure West Hollywood is prepared for a rapidly changing climate while continuing to protect the health and safety of the people who live and work here.

We owe it to the residents of West Hollywood today and future generations tomorrow to provide real, tangible solutions to climate change. Reducing our emissions and providing clean air for families is deeply important to Chelsea because they are about building healthier communities. We need to invest in cleaner buildings, safer streets for pedestrians and cyclists, more sustainable transportation options for families, and policies that reduce pollution while lowering costs for residents. Chelsea understands that climate action is whether people can live in homes and neighborhoods that are healthy, affordable, and safe.

Great neighborhoods are well-planned neighborhoods. Climate change is forcing cities to rethink how they design streets, buildings, parks, and public spaces, and it demands thoughtful, creative solutions that make our communities more livable and resilient. Chelsea wants to keep investing in well-maintained parks, shade, trees, and green spaces that improve daily life, help keep neighborhoods cooler, and make West Hollywood a more livable, equitable, and affordable city for everyone.