LAist reported on how rising street homelessness could influence Los Angeles’ 2026 mayoral race, as candidates debate the effectiveness of current strategies and the impact of recent funding cuts. Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, said Mayor Karen Bass deserves credit for making homelessness a top priority but acknowledged she overpromised on how quickly people could be moved into housing. Yaroslavsky also cautioned that campaign pledges to dramatically reduce homelessness underestimate the complexity of the crisis. Read more about UCLA from Los Angeles Business Journal, CalMatters and others.

More highlights from UCLA in the News: August 4, 2026

The hidden cost of ICE raids in Los Angeles | Los Angeles Business Journal

New research from UCLA’s Latino Policy and Politics Institute provides one of the clearest measurements yet of that damage. Researchers examined 989 formal-sector businesses located within half a mile of nine documented immigration-enforcement sites in Los Angeles County. In the two weeks following those operations, the businesses experienced an estimated 46,000 fewer customer visits and $3.16 million in lost revenue.

Universal healthcare was in reach. Now, millions are losing coverage | CalMatters

Facing budget shortfalls and new federal restrictions, state leaders have begun rolling back the coverage system they built. Analysis at the UC Berkeley Labor Center and UCLA Center for Health Policy Research project California’s uninsured rate could nearly double, to almost 15%, by 2030 … “So 138% poverty is not a lot of money in terms of increasing income, but when you talk about how many people actually become eligible it has a significant impact,” said Nadereh Pourat, associate director at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

What China gets right — and wrong — on the environment | The Wire China

“One of our more fascinating projects concerned environmental transparency. The question was whether one could get access to pollution data — what was in the air or water, or what a nearby factory was discharging, and whether it was complying with the law. China passed an open government information regulation in 2007 and environmental regulators in Beijing moved quickly to pass and implement rules. My sense was that they were interested in getting a better handle on environmental conditions in the provinces,” said UCLA’s Alex Wang. (Wang was interviewed.)  

Marmots get frisky on OnlyFans to fund research | CBC News

UCLA evolutionary biology professor Daniel Blumstein describes the moment he decided to set up an OnlyFans account to help finance yellow-bellied marmot research after U.S. federal funding dried up. (Also: NPR, Inc. and The Daily Beast.)

How an LA vintage boutique became a billion-dollar company | Los Angeles Times

Felipe Caro, a business professor at UCLA, said he was skeptical of Reformation’s ability to hold on to its sustainable image after going public, which is part of the brand’s popularity. He said investors may have to compromise on scale in order for the brand to continue to see success with its current customer base.