Sam Lutzker
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About Sam
Lutzker is a community-engaged researcher of urban poverty and its governance, with a focus on homelessness and housing. He studies a wide spectrum of homelessness and housing, having worked on projects about people living in vehicles, tents, makeshift shelters, interim housing (e.g., hotel programs), and permanent supportive housing. Lutzker believes that research and organizing can benefit mutually, and is currently engaged in projects with Venice Justice Committee, the National Vehicle Residency Collective and the Los Angeles Tenants Union. He was previously involved in projects with the After Echo Park Lake Research Collective and the Lived Experienced Advisory Board of Silicon Valley.
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Publications
Unpacks the idea that as housing crises become increasingly entangled with environmental crises, the question of just outcomes requires different ways of thinking. Explores the politics of Los Angeles’ Ballona Wetlands and suggests the concept of multispecies justice may offer a pathway for negotiating these conflicts.
Analyzes processes of state-led displacement in Los Angeles. Focuses on the violent eviction of the unhoused community at Echo Park Lake, a public park in a gentrifying neighborhood of the city close to downtown, it draws attention to how political claims of housing placements legitimize such displacement but rarely result in housing outcomes.