The Los Angeles chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA|LA) has released an open letter to mayoral candidates Rick Caruso and Karen Bass suggesting 10 fixes to zoning requirements and the approval processes that would positively impact citywide efforts to tackle an ongoing housing crisis that has taken center stage ahead of the November election.

Echoing the tone of a recent LA Times op-ed, Koning Eizenberg principal and AIA|LA Government Outreach Committee member Brian Lane wrote on behalf of the organization, saying that, as the system is currently arranged, there are "a thousand ways to 'no.'" Their letter claims that city bureaucracy gets in the way of the design community's efforts and that production can be significantly increased via the proposed set of solutions.

"Dear Mayor," the text begins. "It takes about $600,000 and 5 years to build one affordable housing unit. That’s one person or family moved off the streets of over 69,000 experiencing homelessness in LA County right now. Despite the clear and ambitious political vision aimed at tackling this emergency, both of those numbers are only increasing, widening the gap between need and provision."

The list of proposed fixes as is:

1. Simplify the funding application process — Lane proposes doing this by establishing one common application for designers. He says this would reduce the typical "six to eight sources" required to cover costs on a fully-affordable development while uniforming the often disjointed design mandates, endless forms, and increasingly bigger hoops to jump through in order to adequately fund such projects. "While the dollars are essential, the complex process slows production," he writes. "From one funding round to the next, the goalposts move."
2. Create a community engagement process that welcomes affordable housing — LA communities are notoriously stingy when it comes to allowing affordable development. The letter proposes fixing this by expanding "by right" zoning and clarifying the ministerial process, which, in turn, would reduce the delay that currently comes in the form of discretionary actions and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exposures.
3. Eliminate and update outdated zoning codes — Holdover ordinances like "Passageways" are an example cited. As Lane says, "Hundreds of small issues like these add up to a maze of overlapping requirements with no benefit."
4. Streamline building permit clearances — Lane proposes a 30% reduction in the approval process time, which he says can be made by assigning a "concierge" from City Hall to shepherd each project to permit ready status and creating an online dashboard that "illuminates all actions, stalls, and accountability for clearances."
5. Labor unions can help, too — This involves raising the commercial prevailing wage threshold to 8 stories. Lane explains: "At the state level, there are two tiers based on how many stories you build. Four stories or less incur 'Prevailing Wage' a 20% premium on labor costs. But the real rub comes in the bump for projects over 4 stories high that incur 'Commercial Prevailing Wage' adding an additional 15% premium. This double premium is a heavy cost for higher buildings, the primary way to take advantage of new zoning incentives designed to encourage more affordable units. Many affordable housing developers leave this added density on the table because they can’t afford the 'Commercial Prevailing Wage' upcharge."
6. Rationalize accessibility design tolerances — Lane says: "Every six months, the City should publish 'issues from the field' to keep designers informed of recent interpretations or issues." He also suggests pragmatic changes to eliminate precision requirements for a "quicker path to occupancy."
7. Allow for speedy Electrical Transformer Service Certification — The fix for this is to establish more adaptable transformer formats. He explains: "Pre-certified formats would save time and be doubly effective if they were crafted to suit the contemporary urban setting. Allowing infill developments, for example, to locate transformers in alleys and underground with clearances that accommodate forklifts (not giant cranes and large staging areas) to place equipment would allow for more developable area, landscape, and density."
8. Share infrastructure costs fairly — This can be accomplished by "amortizing neighborhood infrastructure costs." Lane also said that the Department of Water and Power (DWP) "needs capital improvement funding sources that do not specifically tax housing, especially affordable housing which benefits the whole city."
9. Optimize rooftop real estate — Fairly simple fixes like reducing clearances for unoccupied roofs. As Lane writes: "Increasingly efficient PV panels reduce power needs, but they are space greedy. The fight for rooftop real estate pits fire department access and OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) clearances against mechanical equipment areas and amenity open spaces, all while roof area decreases with increased density and height. All agencies and codes that dictate how roofs are used need to work together to optimize these areas and continue to lower a building’s dependence on 'the grid.'"
10. We need to plant more trees — Again, Lane says this can be done by making simple changes to ordinances that pertain to the width of sidewalks. As he sees it: "[Trees] are a pleasant part of sidewalks. Yet every project we work on seems to have a protracted process of determining where they can be placed to dodge other objects in the public way. Half of what we (and our landscape architects) think is reasonable doesn’t end up working. There is literally so much urban junk (light poles, utilities, parking meters, driveways, etc) in the public way that it precludes the tree-lined avenues communities want and City Planners endorse."