Scholars, government officials and business leaders shared data about issues such as the lack of cooling centers during high temperatures and improving mobility at the Luskin Summit on April 17.

The sixth Luskin Summit, which focuses on policy issues in Los Angeles, was held at the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center. According to the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs website, the conference aims to help different stakeholders convene to explore concerns facing LA and California.

Mayor Karen Bass spoke on homelessness policy. In addition, Zev Yaroslavsky, the director of the LA Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, discussed the results of UCLA’s Quality of Life Index, an anonymous public survey designed to understand public opinion surrounding quality of life.

As part of the survey, respondents answered questions organized into nine broad categories: public safety, education, intergroup relations, cost of living, transportation and traffic, jobs and the economy, health care, environment, and neighborhoods. Yaroslavsky, a former LA County supervisor, said the survey provides insight on issues people may be hesitant to talk about without anonymity.

“We came up with the idea of doing a survey … where you could ask them questions that you wouldn’t ask them if you were having a cup of coffee with them,” Yaroslavsky said. “When you ask in a public opinion survey (that’s) anonymous, people are more willing to talk candidly.”

The results lead to an index figure that can be used as points of comparison between years. When the survey first started in 2016, the LA Quality of Life Index sat at 59 on a scale of 10 to 100. It has since dropped to 55 in 2023 and 53 this year.

The three categories with the lowest satisfaction scores are cost of living at 38, education at 48 and transportation and traffic at 52. When discussing the cost of living satisfaction score, Yaroslavsky said people were unsatisfied with the issue of homelessness in LA.

“Almost everybody in the survey does not believe the situation of homelessness has improved in the last year,” he said. “The situation is not going to markedly improve in one year. This is an issue that didn’t happen overnight, and it’s not going to be solved overnight.”

Yaroslavsky said Bass has made solving the homelessness crisis central in her office.

Jerusha Kannula, a public policy graduate student, said she attended the event because she wanted to hear Bass speak about housing and her motivations for declaring a state of emergency on homelessness.

One of the key aspects of Bass’ speech was that she was not going to give up, Kannula said, adding that she found Bass’ motivation to bring housing to California and LA inspiring.

Jes McBride, an alumnus who graduated with a master’s degree in urban and regional planning, said she was interested in how government and academic sectors can work with nonprofits to improve urban planning because she works for Envision Consulting, an executive recruiting firm that also does strategic advising.

“We work with a lot of nonprofits in the Los Angeles region, and a lot of them touch on topics of public policy and urban planning,” she said. “There’s a lot of opportunity for all of the sectors who are working together, so I wanted to come and see what people were talking about on the cutting edge of these topics.”

McBride also said she was interested in attending talks related to climate change, attending a panel that discussed cooling strategies ahead of the upcoming Olympic Games.

“What I find really interesting about climate work in general is that it’s a really big problem that our human psychology is not really good at adapting to,” McBride said. “We’re good at solving in-the-moment problems like, ‘It’s hot, I need to buy an air conditioner.’ … But I think the beauty of urban planning and public policy … is that we are trying to solve really big societal problems for everybody.”