Hope in a Housing Crisis
- 8 hours ago
- 4 min read
Alex Dobbs responds to rising housing costs in East Los Angeles through faith-rooted organizing
This story was originally published in the February 2026 Issue of Journey of Hope.
In 2021, Alex Dobbs and his housemates were forced to move when their landlord’s daughter needed the unit. Living in East Los Angeles, they were able to find a place a mile down the street. But overnight their living space shrank, and their rent jumped from $1,600 to $2,300—a $700 a month increase. “I experienced first-hand just how expensive things were getting,” Alex said.
Alex is on staff with Servant Partners in East LA, where he has lived and ministered for more than eight years. During that time, he has seen housing costs climb faster than income, intensifying the economic pressure on families in his community. East LA, long a haven for predominantly Mexican immigrant families, has increasingly become a place where stability is increasingly rare.
That instability became painfully real when a middle-aged man from Alex’s church, working full time at minimum wage and paying child support, ran out of housing options. Eventually, he ended up homeless and fell into addiction. “It showed me how the face of homelessness has changed,” Alex reflected. “People are working full-time and still can’t afford housing. It's no longer just addicts or people struggling with mental illness. Housing has become so expensive and we don't have enough of it. More and more families are sleeping in their cars or living in tents in the park.”
“From an organizing perspective, it’s easy to blame individuals for their situation, he said. "But I see the system as the problem—how did we get to a place where people feel like they have no options left, and families feel forced to make impossible choices?”
These experiences—both personal and pastoral—deepened Alex’s sense of calling. Housing had always been the justice issue that surfaced again and again in his life, from a tenant organizing internship in college to his first job doing case management work with homeless families. The housing crisis felt unavoidable.
"From an organizing perspective, it’s easy to blame individuals for their situation. But I see the system as the problem—how did we get to a place where people feel like they have no options left, and families feel forced to make impossible choices?"
That calling took shape as the Faith & Housing Coalition (FHC), a regional effort Alex helps lead alongside other SP staff and local church leaders. The coalition exists to organize, educate, and mobilize people of faith across Los Angeles County to address the housing crisis systemically.
“The housing crisis is like the game of musical chairs,” Alex wrote in a recent update. “There are not enough chairs for everybody, and you win by being faster than everyone else. When it comes to housing, you win by having more money.”
In 2025, FHC played a small but significant role in advocating for SB 79, a California housing bill that passed by a single vote. The legislation makes it easier to build apartments and affordable housing near public transit, including in areas where multi-family housing has been illegal for decades. After sustained advocacy—including calls, emails, and meetings—Senator María Elena Durazo of East LA changed her vote from no to yes.
“If politicians don’t have support from the people in their district on a controversial bill, it makes it really, really hard for them to vote yes,” Alex said. “It really felt like our organizing made a difference.”
Alex also shared the limits and the hope of this work: “It's a test of faith to trust that God is at work, cares about it more than I do, and is bringing about justice as we pray, organize and act.” The impact of SB 79 will take years, and there is no guarantee that it will produce results. Still, he has watched something shift among those involved.
"It's a test of faith to trust that God is at work, cares about it more than I do, and is bringing about justice as we pray, organize and act.”
“I’ve seen people go from, ‘Can we do anything? Is change even possible?’ to celebrating real wins,” he said. “Having hope in this work is hard. It’s slow and difficult, but being a part of FHC chips away at people’s hopelessness as they see God move.”
Reflecting on Leviticus 25, he prays for a Jubilee vision in Los Angeles—one where every family has access to housing and economic stability.
“SB 79 was a tangible win,” Alex said. “A reminder that God is at work, that the Spirit is moving—even in places like zoning laws and housing policy. Next year, we hope to write our own policies that bring our vision to life, rooted in scripture, shalom, and God’s kingdom coming to our city.”
In Los Angeles, where rent hikes and displacement feel relentless, Alex continues to believe that faithful presence, patient organizing, and trust in God’s justice will bring about the change the city so desperately needs.
You can learn more about the Faith & Housing Coalition at www.faithhousingla.com
