LOS ANGELES MAYORAL CANDIDATE MEL WILSON RECEIVES THE ENDORSEMENT OF THE SOUTHLAND REGIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS

LOS ANGELES, Ca (June 01, 2022) — The Southland Regional Association of REALTORS has endorsed business leader, housing advocate and former MTA Board member Mel Wilson as the next mayor Los Angeles. And at the same time, top officials at state and national real estate associations would also like to see Wilson elected.

Wilson was strongly endorsed by the housing industry in Los Angles for mayor because of its belief that L.A.’s housing affordability and homeless crisis needs a housing expert at the helm of city government.

“The housing industry has made their choice and their choice for making housing affordable and housing the homeless is Mel Wilson for mayor of Los Angeles,” said Jeff Phillips, president of the 11,000 Southland Regional Association of Realtors. “Who better to get L.A. out of this homeless and housing crisis than a housing expert?”

“Los Angeles’ homeless crisis is top on the minds for most Angelenos. What is needed is a housing expert like Mel Wilson who understands and knows how to bring people together to solve the homeless and housing affordability crisis,” said Ziggy Zicarelli, past president of SRAR and the California Association of REALTORS.

Wilson, an SRAR legislative housing advocate, has helped thousands of first-time buyers create generational wealth. A former broker for Los Angeles City Housing Department and home buyer educator, Wilson was also the first broker for Restore Neighborhood LA (RNLA) a federally funded nonprofit corporation that bought and restored over 300 L.A. foreclosure homes. The city received a $140 million federal grant from the Obama Administration National Stabilization Program during the Great Recession.

“I have fought discrimination, redlining and gentrification, helping hundreds of families create generational wealth,” Wilson continued.

Solving L.A.’s homeless and chronic housing affordability problem requires someone who will be able to hit the ground running,” said Otto Catrina, president of the 214,000-member CAR. “Mel has been at the forefront of fighting housing discrimination, redlining and gentrification.”

“Mel is a member of the Realtor Party. He has four decades of housing experience and a master’s degree from Columbia College that focused on creating housing for middle-class workers and Millennials in Los Angeles,” said Kenny Parcell, president-elect National Association of Realtors.

Wilson has worked in nearly every spectrum of housing, including broker-owner of national real estate franchises, teaching first-time buyers, consultant to Well Fargo Bank Community Lending department and consultant to Well Fargo Bank Community Reinvestment Act compliance.

What has not received enough attention in the mayoral campaign, said Wilson, is the lack of housing affordability for L.A.’s workers.

Five years ago, L.A. voters approved the $1.2 billion Proposition HHH to build 10,000 homeless shelters, yet homeless increased 41%, according to a LAHSA homelessness report, proving that it takes more than money to solve the housing problem.

Forty percent of Angelenos are paying half or more of their income on housing. The high cost of housing showed its face during the COVID-19 pandemic which resulted in the high infection and mortality rates due to overcrowding in low-income communities of color.

Wilson produced a Housing Our Workers (H.O.W.) forum in 2017 to elevate the discussion on the lack of housing affordability in L.A. Participating in the forum were notables from national, state and local governments. Participating in the forum were former Assistant Secretary of the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Mercedes Marquez, Governor Jerry Brown’s director of California Housing and Community Development, Ben Metcalf.

Co-sponsored by Southland Regional Association of Realtors, National Association of Realtors and Biz Fed-Institute, other participants included City Councilmembers from five different cities including Mayor Bob Kellar Santa Clarita, Councilmember Bob Blumenfield LA City, Mayor of Cudahy Josue Barrios, former LAUSD president Dr. Caprice Young, the LA  County Department of Public Health, Fannie Mae, non-profit and for-profit housing developers, Westwood Neighborhood Council neighborhood advocates and regional housing industry leaders.

“When everyone talked about homeless, we talked about the lack housing affordability that contributes to thousands of people living on the streets of Los Angeles’ workforce,” Wilson said.