MEET
MANNY
Manny Gonez is a housing advocate and environmentalist running for LA City Council to tackle our housing and homelessness crises, pass stronger gun safety laws and guarantee our communities have clean air to breathe and water to drink.
Raised by a single mother in a low-income household, Manny Gonez cared for his younger siblings while working as a union member at a local market to support his family. He knows first-hand how parents, families and workers in our city struggle to make ends meet. Now, Manny is running for City Council to fight for working families like his. Manny will stand with workers for better wages and the rights of workers; protect tenants’ rights against illegal evictions and rent increases; and work to make sure residents across LA have equal access to quality services, including safe neighborhood parks and libraries.
Manny Gonez went on to work for LA Family Housing, a San Fernando Valley nonprofit that provides housing and services to more than 11,000 people in Los Angeles. Manny has been in our community working to reduce homelessness and create affordable housing, and knows what it takes to get people off the streets and into housing to make sure they get mental health services, treatment and counseling. He also worked with First Lady Michelle Obama's initiative to house homeless veterans.
Now, Manny serves as Policy Director of TreePeople, Southern California’s leading environmental nonprofit, where he has led programs to reduce air and water pollution and address climate change. This includes securing over $150 million to create greener and cooler neighborhoods in Los Angeles, planting thousands of trees across the city every year. He also Helped lead the coalition that worked to close Exide Technologies in LA County, one of the worst polluters in US history that contaminated 10,000 homes in Latino communities.
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As a father of three, Manny will also fight for tougher gun laws to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals, protect families and prevent mass shootings. He will work to increase funding for after school and job training programs that keep students out of trouble and on the right path. Manny will also increase police patrols to reduce 911 response times and create safer schools, parks and neighborhoods. And he will collaborate with local law enforcement to expand community policing and do more to get fentanyl and other dangerous drugs off the street.
Manny Gonez offers real change; he is not a career politician — he is a nonprofit leader who has worked to improve people’s lives and build stronger and safer communities. He is running to clean up City Hall by fighting for reforms and to increase transparency and oversight to fight corruption, stop special backroom deals for special interests and hold politicians accountable for waste, fraud and abuse.
Manny lives in North Hollywood with his wife and their three children and is a PTA officer at his kids’ local public school.