Contact Us

Publications

Photograph of a sleeping, unsheltered homeless resident, downtown Los Angeles, by Daniel Flaming, 2023. Owned by Economic Roundtable, creation of ERt staff.

Hospital to Home: Triage Tool II for Identifying Homeless Hospital Patients in Crisis

November 18, 2012 / By Daniel Flaming, Patrick Burns, Gerald Sumner, Manuel H. Moreno and Halil Toros / Economic Roundtable

Different conditions of body and mind found among homeless adults provide a basis for predicting who will have very high public costs – in the 10th cost decile. This report presents a triage tool developed specifically for use in hospitals or clinics where there is not access to data from other agencies about the use of non-medical public services. 
City of Los Angeles Housing Department, Affordable and Accessible Housing Registry, photograph of "The Mediterranean AKA Mindanao," 1800 W Temple St., Los Angeles, CA 90026.

Jobs, Wages and Housing: Affordable Housing Benefit Fee Study

November 1, 2012 / By Daniel Flaming, Patrick Burns, Michael Matsunaga, Yasmin Tong and Ken Baar / City of Los Angeles

New development solves housing problems for some workers by creating new jobs that pay sustaining wages. At the same time, it creates additional demand for affordable housing because some of the workers who will be employed will not earn enough money to afford market-rate rental housing. This report analyzes a possible affordable housing benefit fee for new development in Los Angeles. If approved, this fee would recover a portion of the public cost for meeting the demand for affordable housing that results from new development.
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Steven King/Released, 2009. US Government Property, open for fair use.

Stepping Up for Veterans Standing Down: Information about Veterans Living in Los Angeles County

November 1, 2012 / By Patrick Burns / United Way of Greater Los Angeles

The nation is drawing down thousands of troops from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, where they have served the country in difficult, complex and dangerous circumstances. Finding pathways to sustaining employment during a prolonged recession is proving difficult for many post-9/2001 veterans. The skill, purpose and dedication that veterans demonstrated in serving this country at a minimum earns them the right to a fair shot at a job in the civilian labor force.

Photograph by The City Project, "82 Los Angeles State Historic Park at the Cornfield." Photograph uploaded to Flickr Creative Commons on July 26, 2007, taken on September 23, 2006 at the grand opening of the Los Angeles State Historic Park at the Cornfield. Protected under the CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 DEED license. The Economic Roundtable has not changed, remixed, transformed, or built upon the material, and is not using it for commercial purposes.

Indicators of Children’s Health and Wellbeing in Southern California

June 1, 2012 / By Patrick Burns / First 5 Association of California

This data indicators research was created to support planning by the First 5 Southern California Alliance for Learning and Results (SCALAR). It provides multiple county-level indicators of children's health and well being in Southern California.

Equity below the Wing

February 1, 2012 / By Patrick Burns and Daniel Flaming / Good Jobs LA

Many runway jobs of baggage and cargo handlers and cabin cleaners at Los Angeles International Airport have been outsourced to labor contractors, resulting in reduced wages and benefits for workers. For a small, incremental cost passed along to passengers, meaningful improvement can be made in the standard of living and health benefits of LAX airside workers, which will spark significant sales and tax multiplier effects for the Los Angeles region. 
Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz, "P20221027AS-2656." Uploaded to Flickr Creative Commons and taken on October 27, 2022. United States government work, open for fair use.

Getting to Work: Unemployment and Economic Recovery in Los Angeles

February 1, 2012 / By Daniel Flaming and Patrick Burns / Economic Roundtable, the Pat Brown Institute

Unemployment and underemployment currently represent $25.8 billion in annual wages not earned in Los Angeles County, $28.2 billion in lost private sector economic activity and $4 billion in tax revenue not generated. Over a fifth of Los Angeles County’s labor force is unemployed or underemployed. Over a third of the county’s population lives in a household where one or more breadwinners are under-employed.

Photograph by John A. Mozzer, "Fulton Avenue, Sherman Oaks." Uploaded to Flickr Creative Commons on February 22, 2008, taken on July 8, 2007. Protected under the CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 DEED license. The Economic Roundtable has not changed, remixed, transformed, or built upon the material, and is not using it for commercial purposes.

Rental Housing 2011: The State of Rental Housing in the City of Los Angeles

February 1, 2012 / By Daniel Flaming and Patrick Burns / Economic Roundtable, the Pat Brown Institute

Inadequate housing takes different forms, all of which are detrimental to the well-being of families and individuals. The most prevalent problem is housing that costs more than households can afford to pay. The causes include a housing inventory that has grown slightly less than the population and renter incomes that have increased much less than the cost of housing.
Photograph by Daniel Flaming, Economic Roundtable, 2011. Owned by Economic Roundtable

Water Use Efficiency and Jobs

December 1, 2011 / By Patrick Burns / City of Los Angeles Piping Industry, International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, National Inspection-Testing-Certification Corporation, Progress and Education Fund, the Community Development Department and Workforce Investment Board

At the peak of California’s most recent drought in 2009, the Los Angeles economy was in severe recession, with unemployment above 12 percent. These twin crises identified a policy opportunity to tackle both challenges together. Public investments in water use efficiency provide economic and job benefits alongside the environmental benefits from using less water. 
Photograph by St Stev, "Trashcan and a Homeless Man." Uploaded to Flickr Creative Commons on April 1, 2008, taken on February 2, 2008. Protected under the CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED licence. No alteration or commercial use of this photo made by the Economic Roundtable. the Economic Roundtable Has not remixed, transformed, or built upon the material.

Crisis Indicator: Triage Tool for Identifying Homeless Adults in Crisis

August 1, 2011 / By Daniel Flaming, Patrick Burns, Gerald Sumner, Manuel H. Moreno and Halil Toros / the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Corporation for Supportive Housing

The triage tool, or crisis indicator, identifies homeless individuals in hospitals and jails who have continuing crises in their lives that create very high public costs. This redesigned tool is four times more accurate than the earlier screening tool released in 2010. The tool is developed for use in jails, hospitals and clinics where homeless individuals with high levels of need and high public costs are most likely to be found. Discovery of the exceptionally high public costs for people in the 10th cost decile has led to interest in identifying these individuals and giving them high priority for access to permanent supportive housing. This group accounts for well over half of all public costs for homeless adults, and their costs decrease by 86 percent when they live in permanent supportive housing.
Report layout, design and all associated graphics assembled by the Health Consumer Alliance of California, underwriter of the Economic Roundtable's research study and report. HCA is a network of ten consumer assistance programs operated by community-based legal services organizations across the state of California. https://healthconsumer.org/ Images drawn from public domain collections. The Economic Roundtable is not using it for commercial purposes.

Dividends of a Hand Up: Public Benefits of Moving Indigent Adults with Disabilities onto SSI

March 1, 2011 / By Daniel Flaming / the Health Consumer Alliance of California

Counties bear large hidden costs for individuals with disabilities who are indigent or homeless. This includes costs for health care, jails and probation in addition to readily identifiable county costs for public assistance. A large share of this cost is health related – costs that the federal and state governments would pay through Medi-Cal if the individuals were receiving Supplemental Social Security Income (SSI). 
Photograph by Ashwini Chaudhary (Monty) “Room cleaning items in hallway” Published on January 28, 2020 on Unsplash. Free to use under the Unsplash License.

Impacts of Living Wages in the Airport Hospitality Enhancement Zone

December 8, 2010 / By Daniel Flaming and Patrick Burns / City of Los Angeles Administrative Officer

This study of the Airport Hospitality Enhancement Zone examines the economic impacts of minimum compensation requirements, outcomes from the non-tiered living wage requirement for both tipped and non-tipped hotel workers, and the costs and possible benefits of training for hotel workers. Hotels in the Airport Hospitality Zone are called upon by the City to pay workers a minimum of $10.30 an hour and $1.25 per hour in health benefits, or $11.55 an hour if health benefits are not provided. 

Where We Sleep: The Costs of Housing and Homelessness in Los Angeles

November 1, 2009 / By Daniel Flaming, Michael Matsunaga and Patrick Burns / The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority

The central question investigated in this study is the public costs for people in supportive housing compared to similar people that are homeless. The typical public cost for residents in supportive housing is $605 a month. The typical public cost for similar homeless persons is $2,897, five-times greater than their counterparts that are housed. This remarkable finding demonstrates that practical, tangible public benefits result from providing supportive housing for vulnerable homeless individuals. The stabilizing effect of housing plus supportive care is demonstrated by a 79 percent reduction in public costs for these residents.

Our Projects