Biography

I’m a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times writing about housing affordability and neighborhood change across California.

I began reporting on state and national housing challenges when I started with the Times in 2016. I spent my first three years at the Times state capital bureau in Sacramento and I’ve been based in Los Angeles since 2019.

My stories have dug deeply into the causes and effects of the high cost of housing in California and elsewhere, reporting on dire living conditions in Los Angeles’ Skid Row, opulence in Silicon Valley enclaves and freeway displacement in Houston and Tampa. 

I’ve been recognized as one of the nation’s preeminent journalists on housing and urban issues, and my work has led to new laws and other public policy change.

Before joining the Times, I spent six years at Voice of San Diego, a nonprofit news site, where I led the organization’s investigative efforts. I also have regularly written and contributed to breaking news and feature stories for the New York Times, the Washington Post and The Atlantic. I’m a Philadelphia native and graduate of Georgetown University in Washington D.C.