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The Los Angeles City Council has decided on regulatory updates to the 2021-2029 housing element that will center new development mainly in commercial districts and existing high-density residential neighborhoods while avoiding single-family zones in spite of the benefits proven to be offered by... View full entry
Under state laws designed to remedy a housing shortage, the city has to set aside land for the construction of 250,000 more homes than allowed through existing zoning rules. Measures under consideration by a City Council committee are likely to satisfy the state requirements, the UCLA analysis found. But when analyzing the likelihood of what developers would actually build, researchers found the number of new homes would be far lower. — LA Times
The L.A. City Council is expected to vote later this afternoon to approve the rezoning measure. The report's co-author Shane Phillips of the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies says the city would be better served if its generous slate of incentives was expanded to cover the... View full entry
A new report from Hilgard Analytics and Zenith Economics has the numbers behind the turndown complicating LA’s multi-pronged housing crunch. According to the available Los Angeles City Council data, the number of new permits this year has fallen 30.7% on pace toward a new five-year low. ... View full entry
Will L.A. continue to preserve communities dominated by single-family homes? Or will the city make a historic shift to allow for more affordable housing in areas that have long excluded it? — LA Times
City Planning officials voted on Thursday to approve the plan, which the LA Times pointed out is limited to just 28% of the city and areas that are heavily zoned for commercial and/or multifamily construction. The publication had to use a F.O.I.L. Act petition to obtain a copy of the... View full entry
The Archdiocese of L.A. announced Wednesday it will partner with a newly formed nonprofit called Our Lady Queen of Angels Housing Alliance to develop affordable housing in Southern California.
Their first project — located on Archdiocese land currently used by Catholic Charities — will construct affordable apartments next to L.A. City College for community college students and youth transitioning out of foster care.
— LAist.com
The transitional housing project at Los Angeles City College joins another for Pasadena City College that will enable better access to higher education for the 30,000 youths enrolled in L.A. County’s foster care system currently. Statewide there are 171,749 acres of developable land owned by... View full entry
A plan from big-box giant Costco to deliver an 800-apartment mixed-use scheme designed by AO in Los Angeles is garnering some positive reviews online for its response to the city’s vexing housing crisis. SFGate.com has more on the latest attempts to tackle the emergency, which remains at the top... View full entry
“The city of Los Angeles has worked very hard to brand these as tiny homes as if they are a housing solution, which they absolutely are not,” said Shayla Myers, a senior attorney at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. “In reality, these are tiny sheds.” — The New York Times
Firsthand accounts of what it’s like to live inside one of the eleven tiny home villages scattered across parts of the San Fernando Valley and northeast LA often underscore their value as bulwarks against unsheltered homelessness in the city. Feedback from on-site mental health professionals... View full entry
A new report on California’s entrenched housing crisis from the state's independent Little Hoover Commission has identified the 54-year-old California Environmental Quality Act (or CEQA) as the greatest barrier currently in the way of architects and planners looking to meet the demand for... View full entry
New research published recently by the Brookings Institution has provided details of how local government in Los Angeles can galvanize a newfound abundance of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) through policy changes in order to combat an ongoing housing crisis currently affecting more than one... View full entry
City Council Members in Los Angeles have issued a mandate to owners of the graffiti-tagged Oceanview Plaza development in Downtown to remove the artwork weeks after its unfinished exterior became a national news item and the latest flash point in a debate over the citywide housing crisis that has... View full entry
A new supportive housing concept in Los Angeles has been introduced by LA-based practices Kadre Architects and Lehrer Architects. The design teams shared it can become a new model for design resourcefulness and occupants’ dignity at a time when the city, as do many others in... View full entry
The Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley has released a statewide assessment of the development of housing five years after the implementation of California's Senate Bill (SB) 35 began in 2018. The bill eased the barriers to housing production for builders, in some cases removing... View full entry
A record-breaking supportive housing development in the overburdened Los Angeles market is one step closer to completion this week after AXIS/GFA Architecture + Design’s new 19-story Weingart Center Tower 1 project topped out near Skid Row. Once completed, the development will provide a total of... View full entry
Mayor Karen Bass on Thursday signed into law an ordinance updating the city's zoning code to exempt all affordable units from the time-consuming Site Plan Review process that often delays final approval of much-needed housing projects.
The city's existing building code required all housing developments of more than 49 units to undergo Site Plan Review, which can add months to the completion of a project and increase expenses.
— ABC 7
Bass had promised to alleviate the burden on developers as part of her mayoral campaign and has since cut down the city’s end of the approval process and added a new Deputy Mayor of Housing to the administration, though structural problems within the political apparatus still remain. The... View full entry
New LA Mayor Karen Bass has elevated current City Planning Commissioner Jenna Hornstock to a newly-created post as the Deputy Mayor of Housing, according to the city's announcement on Wednesday afternoon. The appointment aligns with Bass’ comprehensive shakeup of the city’s existing... View full entry
