New Housing Director, Old Routine

Who is Helmi Hisserich? If you ask her, this self proclaimed “housing affordability champion” has dedicated her professional life to solving homelessness and the housing affordability crisis. With 22 years in LA politics as the Deputy Mayor of Housing and Economic Development and now taking up director of the Portland Housing Bureau, she must have something to show to back up these claims. Let’s do a deep dive and see what we can find out.

Originally a banker, Hisserich got her start in LA politics as an advisor to Republican Mayor Richard Riordan. In 2007, she springboards off of this into her role as LA Deputy Mayor of Housing and Economic Development. Her roots begin with various gentrification projects of LA while masquerading as a “affordability champion.” She begins to cozy up to developers and undertake rapid gentrification of various LA neighborhoods so that by 2012, affordability in the city is at an all time low. By the following year, there was a 16% increase in houselessness with an unprecedented 58,000 unsheltered sleepers in LA County on any given night.

In the face of this crisis, Helmi responds by allocating funds and resources to create a “think tank” called the Los Angeles Housing Research Library. No policies, no incentives, just vagaries and the enlistment of folks representing LA’s luxury developers and gentrifiers. In addition to these high-salaried positions, her own annual salary has consistently approached $200,000, about 123% the national average of this position. She will then turn around and claim there simply isn’t enough funding to implement more meaningful and effective housing policies.

So, what does LA currently have to show from Helmi’s 2007-2023 tenure? As of 2024, there were about 75K houseless in LA County, with almost 50k in the city of LA alone. With more rapid gentrification and the continued displacement of LA’s black and brown communities, it’s evident that Helmi’s approach has not only been ineffective, it has directly resulted in a rising unsheltered population and is downright dangerous to the cities most vulnerable communities.

Helmi’s political history demonstrates something we all know deep down. Our politicians, elected or appointed, do not work for us. They are bought and paid for. Loyal to their donors. Poor people cannot afford the help of the politicians of the old society. And so we must organize to meet our needs and to make a better world.