Everyone agrees that Los Angeles needs more housing. But questions about the size or type of housing that should be allowed in different neighborhoods, including affordable housing, continue to be debated in earnest.
Such questions are expected to surface again today, July 25, when the city of L.A.’s planning department hosts a virtual public hearing to discuss draft ordinances that would pave the way for the city to build hundreds of thousands more housing units over the next several years.
The effort is driven by a state mandate that requires all municipalities to approve far more housing units to address California’s pressing housing needs. Los Angeles has a target to build 486,379 housing units by 2029.
To meet this obligation, the L.A. City Council in 2021 updated its “housing element” – a plan that lays out L.A.’s current housing conditions and needs and establishes goals and policies to guide future decisions about where housing should be built and the type, size or density of housing projects that should be allowed.
For example, should higher-density buildings like multi-story apartments be permitted in neighborhoods that are zoned for single-family homes? Should exceptions to the existing zoning be made for projects that include a certain number of affordable units, to encourage developers to build more affordable housing?
City planners have been grappling with such questions as they’ve worked to draft ordinances to accompany the city’s housing element, known as the Plan to House L.A.
The city’s planning department has drafted a set of proposed ordinances as part of L.A.’s Housing Element Rezoning Program. One called the Citywide Housing Incentive Program (CHIP) ordinance, for example, would streamline — speed up — the review of proposed projects and provide new incentives to encourage developers to build more affordable housing near transit lines, jobs, along major corridors and in “higher opportunity areas.”
Another proposal, the Resident Protections Ordinance, would address tenant and protections and assistance for renters who could lose their homes if a developer decides to demolish an older building to make way for new housing units. Another proposal would address tenant protections, like how many years a unit must be leased out at below-market rate.
Tonight, the city’s planning department will host a public hearing over Zoom to share information and receive public input about the draft ordinances, which will eventually be presented to the City Council for adoption.
Marissa Ayala, policy and advocacy manager for the Alliance for Community Transit-Los Angeles (ACT-LA), a coalition of more than 40 organizations throughout L.A. County that advocates for more affordable housing, said it’s important for Angelenos to participate in the conversations when the ordinances are being drafted — because the decisions will have far-reaching and longterm impacts on development in Los Angeles.
“These ordinances are going to shape how and where housing – specifically affordable housing – is built in our city. This is the most important political work we have to do to address the housing and homelessness crisis,” she said.
Ayala said ACT-LA is concerned that what’s currently proposed means developers could not get certain incentives that are used to persuade developers to build more affordable housing, if they want to build projects in areas zoned for single-family residences.
“We see that as a critical flaw,” Ayala said. “We don’t think anywhere in the city should be without affordable units. Having exemptions (for single-family residential zones) means … affordable housing developments would just continue to be concentrated in roughly 25% of the city.”
L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia recently mentioned in an X post that 72% of the city’s residential land is zoned for single-family homes and that most affordable housing is being built in “working-class, often marginalized neighborhoods of color” due to zoning such as single-family zoning.
“Affordable housing should be distributed equitably,” Mejia wrote in a subsequent X post. “Excluding affluent single-family neighborhoods from (the Citywide Housing Incentive Program) will accelerate displacement in already dense, low-income & working-class marginalized communities.” The proposed CHIP ordinance, he said, “should include affordable housing in all areas that need it.”
Sherman Oaks resident Jeff Kalban is a member of United Neighbors, a coalition of residential groups whose stated goal is to “protect multi-family and single-family neighborhoods while supporting affordable and equitable housing for all.”
Kalban said United Neighbors supports affordable housing but cautions that it must be “the right type of housing.”
“You don’t put apartments in the middle of single-family neighborhoods,” he said, adding that neighborhoods must be developed “so it works for the community.”
United Neighbors supports smaller homes like townhouses and duplexes and developments along commercial corridors as a transition between smaller single-family homes and larger apartments or condo buildings.
United Neighbors also supports mixed-income neighborhoods, Kalban said, adding that there’s a need for more housing for moderate-income households headed by teachers or people in other professions who earn too much to qualify for “low-income” housing.
Building new affordable homes is possible – but that requires thoughtful planning, Kalban said.
“It can be done,” he said. “But (we want) to build right, not to build just to build,” he said.
Over the past year or two,United Neighbors have met with the L.A. planning department to provide feedback on the proposed CHIP program. The group is largely pleased with what’s been proposed, though it wants stronger protections to preserve rent-controlled units under the city’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance as well as buildings in historic districts, Kalban said.
Thursday’s public hearing, facilitated by the planning department, will start at 5 p.m. with an information session and live question-and-answer segment. The public will then have a chance to give feedback during the public hearing portion that will follow at 6:30 p.m.
To join the Zoom call, register at https://planning-lacity-org.zoom.us/j/81102298373. The webinar ID number is 811-0229-8373.
To listen by phone, call 213-338-8477 and use the same webinar ID number as above.
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