Tens of thousands of Angelenos agree on one thing: defund the police to fund mental health and housing. L.A. spends 25¢ of every dollar on policing, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Our guest is co-founder of Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles Dr. Melina Abdullah. The People’s Budget is an annual poll of 20,000+ Angelenos revealing how the people want to spend their money. Spoiler alert: it’s not on LAPD. We compare what we really want to what city hall gives us, why they are so different, and what we can do to fight back against a runaway police budget. Discover how everyone can have everything they need and most of what they want.

For-profit health insurance is killing us. The less care we get, the more money they make. Our guest is 2022 Los Angeles mayoral candidate and healthcare advocate Gina Viola. Single-payer CalCare could cost patients $40/mo and provide full coverage for medical, psychiatric, dental, and vision with zero cost at point of service. But with billions of profits on the line, health insurance lobbyists in the state legislature block universal healthcare year after year. We talk about the fight to make healthcare a human right in California, and the forces behind the forces standing in our way.

Los Angeles has a housing crisis. Skyrocketing costs + stagnant wages mean all of us are a missed paycheck or two away from being out on the street. 

Racist laws like LAMC 41.18 criminalize being poor, making it illegal to sit, sleep, or lie outdoors in the city limits. We talk about what it means for the 45,000 people living without shelter in the city of Los Angeles, and what we can do about it.

The rent is too damn high. Eviction = death. In Los Angeles, both are true. What can we do about it?

For profit, landlords exploit our need for shelter. So why are they at the center of our housing policy, blocking public housing and other solutions? We talk to eviction attorney Jacob Woocher to learn how to form a tenants union, organize a rent strike, and fight back.