Jack Kearns

Jack Kearns (he/him) is a Master of Public Policy student with a concentration in labor policy and social policy. He graduated from UCLA in 2020 with a bachelor’s in political science, and worked as a line cook in the Los Angeles area post-graduation. He currently works as a graduate student researcher at the UCLA Labor Center, focusing on child labor laws in the United States, and has previously researched the labor movement’s role in fighting the housing crisis, contributing to the L.A. County Federation of Labor’s inaugural Housing Summit in October 2023. 

Jack is working on this project alongside students Gloria Magallanes, Andrew Rock, Ana Rodriguez, and Sydney Smanpongse.

Project Overview

Our projet is focusing on the intersection of housing and labor. Our client, Unite Here Local 11 (UH11), has made the housing crisis central to their work, advancing a range of strategies to make housing more affordable, stable, and proximate to work for its members and the rest of the working poor. The project’s research questions include: How can UH11 advance initiatives to transition small hotels and motels into temporary, emergency, or permanent housing or addiction treatment centers in the Los Angeles metropolitan area? And how should UH11 structure initiatives to purchase housing that can be turned into cooperatives to be rented or owned by the union’s members in the Los Angeles metropolitan area?

Why is this topic, specifically, important to you?

As a renter and a former worker in the service industry, I know how difficult it is to work a full-time minimum-wage service job and pay rent in Los Angeles. High housing costs and low wages have forced Angelenos to live far from their workplace and devote time for commuting and working. In response to rising rents, evictions, and homelessness, the city chooses to criminalize poverty instead of funding social services, leaving thousands, including one of my family members, living on the streets. All Angelenos deserve a living wage and housing as an inalienable right, and I believe that the labor movement should be at the forefront of accomplishing these two goals. 

Who are the partners involved in this project and how will you be working with them?

We will be working with Unite Here Local 11 to address housing issues impacting their members. This will involve leveraging available institutional data and member knowledge.

Victor Narro, Project Director at the UCLA Labor Center, and Gary Blasi, a public interest lawyer and affordable housing advocate, will be advisors on the project and help guide our research. 

How do you hope that this project will impact the field moving forward?

In the wake of a U.S. labor movement resurgence, with the heart of this resurgence occurring in Los Angeles, we hope this project will inspire other unions to view housing as a fundamental aspect of collective bargaining. We also hope more unions will partner with community organizations who are fighting for both tenant rights and the unhoused.