https://www.americancityandcounty.com/wp-content/themes/acc_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcast
  • Resources & Events
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • Municipal Cost Index – Archive
    • Equipment Watch Page
    • American City & County Awards
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
American City and County
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcasts
  • Resources/Events
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers/eBooks
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • American City & County Awards
    • Municipal Cost Index
    • Equipment Watch Page
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Stament
    • Terms of Service
  • newsletter
  • Administration
  • Economy & Finance
  • Procurement
  • Public Safety
  • Public Works & Utilities
  • Smart Cities & Technology
  • Magazine
acc.com

Public Safety


Russ Allison Loar

News

With proposed plan, Los Angeles grapples with housing crisis

With proposed plan, Los Angeles grapples with housing crisis

  • Written by Andy Castillo
  • 6th July 2021

The housing crisis in Los Angeles is well documented. Last year, the region’s homeless services authority documented more than 60,000 unhoused people living in the greater Los Angeles area, an increase of about 20,000 people in the last five years.

The cost of living in Los Angeles is a driving factor—among others including historic racism, according to a recent judicial opinion—behind the ballooning data.

A pre-pandemic report from RentCafe—using data from PropertyShark, Yardi Matrix and the U.S. Census Bureau—for example, estimated the average cost to rent in Los Angeles at a little more than $2,500 per month, representing a 65 percent increase in the last decade. Comparatively, rent increased nationally about 36 percent over the same time period.

To meet the crisis, the Los Angeles City Planning and the Housing and the Community Investment Department (HCIDLA) recently released plans to add about 57,000 new housing units and accommodate nearly 500,000 total units over the next eight years. Titled “The Plan to House L.A.,” the draft calls for more than 200,000 of those units to be reserved for lower-income residents.

“This plan, our ‘Plan to House L.A.,’ was designed with our residents in mind, especially those who have been disenfranchised, excluded and left without housing because of wide wealth gaps and a lack of affordable units,” said Vince Bertoni, the city’s director of planning, in a July 1 statement. “We took it upon ourselves—as a city—to develop a series of strategies that would position us to be successful in confronting our housing challenges head-on. By carefully balancing production, affordable housing preservation and protection, we intend to create new access to housing, make significant inroads to end chronic homelessness, and keep Angelenos housed without fears of displacement.”

The announcement comes as Los Angeles is locked in ongoing litigation with the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights, a homeless advocacy organization that sued the city last spring challenging its response to the homeless crisis. The filing called on the city and county government to provide unhoused people with adequate shelter options.

In April, a U.S. District Court judge issued a decision on the litigation explicitly outlining structural racism as a defining factor that created the current crisis. In a more than 100 page ruling Judge David Carter ordered the city to address the problem in a number of ways, including by making land available for housing or shelters and creating reports on ways to address the problem.

In the ruling, Carter highlighted historical racism in direct relation to the city’s modern-day housing crisis. While Black people comprise 8 percent of the city’s population these days, Carter explained, they make up 42 percent of its homeless population.

“Through redlining, containment, eminent domain, exclusionary zoning and gentrification—designed to segregate and disenfranchise communities of color—the city and county of Los Angeles created a legacy of entrenched structural racism,” Carter wrote.

In a section about the creation of Skid Row, a section of the city where many people live on the streets, Carter noted that, instead of renovating the area in the early 1970s as was suggested by some at the time, Los Angeles “adopted the alternative ‘Blue Book Plan,’ which sought to ‘contain’ homeless people to maintain the pristineness of the business district. The plan adopted a 50-block ‘physical containment’ zone designed to contain and perpetuate poverty.”

Among other things, the order, issued April 20, called on the city to provide housing to all unaccompanied women and children living in Skid Row within 90 days; to families within 120 days; to everyone else within 180 days.

The city has since filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that, among a few reasons, “the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction and cannot provide the relief requested,” according to court documents. A hearing on that most recent filing will be held Aug. 9.

Meanwhile, in coming days and months, City Planning and HCIDLA will hold outreach events to collect additional community input about the newly developed housing plan. After the City Planning Commission considers the final recommendations, it will advance to the full City Council for adoption later this fall and will guide the creation and implementation of the city’s housing policy through 2029.

Notably, California state law requires the city to update its Housing Element every eight years and “demonstrate sufficient zoned capacity for housing to accommodate the number of units identified in the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA),” based on information from the planning department’s website.

According to a press statement about the proposed plan, it’s intended to “set new citywide strategies in motion to achieve a more equitable distribution of market-rate and affordable units across Los Angeles, providing quality access to housing for residents, including those with disabilities, large families and older adults. The draft plan establishes clear goals and objectives to inform future policy considerations.”

The strategies to meet those goals include rezoning Los Angeles to allow “for over 200,000 new housing units within three years of the plan’s adoption. The rezoning program will increase density and allowances for housing, particularly in neighborhoods with access to good jobs, schools and amenities.”

Along with the the housing plan, the city’s planning department has implemented a number of other programs to address the crisis. The Affordable Housing Linkage Fee, for example, requires that developers pay a fee ranging from $3 to $5 per square foot for commercial development and $8 to $15 for residential projects, with the money going toward affordable housing production. Since being enacted through an ordinance in 2019, the initiative has raised about $35 million, according to the planning department’s 2020 annual report.

Tags: homepage-featured-2 News Public Safety News Public Safety News

Most Recent


  • 10 of America's most idyllic lakeside communities
    From Vermont’s Lake Champlain to the famous Lake of the Ozarks, the United States has the third most lakes of any country in the world—a new list from Boatline, an online boating marketplace, ranks America’s best lakeside cities and towns. The list includes communities like Grand Lake, Colo., which is home to the state’s deepest natural […]
  • infrastructure
    Infrastructure improvements in cities often feature clean energy or connected technologies
    The most in-demand products and services in local governments fall into three interconnected buckets, says Matthew Britt, general manager of smart cities at Honeywell. The buckets, he says, are urban mobility, sustainability and resilience, and public safety. “Urban mobility begins with road infrastructure and understanding how to move people around cities more effectively and sustainably. […]
  • Ahead of Surfside condo collapse anniversary, Florida's legislature approves inspection standards
    Nearly a year after one of the worst building tragedies in United States history, the partial collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Fla., the state’s legislature has passed a bill requiring stricter inspection standards. It’s expected to be signed into state law by Gov. Ronald DeSantis. The update significantly reduces the inspection timeline statewide for coastal […]
  • Smart911 emergency profiles provide first responders with more information, faster
    Since the first full time fire department was established in Cincinnati in 1853, emergency responders have raced into unknown scenarios with limited advance information when the firehouse bell rings—until now. Among the many advancements of next-generation 911 dispatch systems, Smart911, an app developed by Rave Mobile Safety, automatically displays resident profiles during an emergency—including details […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your American City and County account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Designing city and county buildings for safety and accessibility
  • How local governments designate tax-exempt bonds and tax benefits for affordable housing
  • apartment building
    Creating the optimal living environment in today’s public housing
  • The 2018 Exemplary Public Servant of the Year awards

White papers


Hand Hygiene: Compliance Matters

23rd May 2022

What it Takes to Build a Winning Esports Program

23rd May 2022

Sixth-Largest US School District Saves Over $500,000 by Utilizing a Cooperative

23rd May 2022
view all

Events


PODCAST


Young Leaders Episode 4 – Cyril Jefferson – City Councilman, High Point, North Carolina

13th October 2020

Young Leaders Episode 3 – Shannon Hardin – City Council President, Columbus, Ohio

27th July 2020

Young Leaders Episode 2 – Christian Williams – Development Services Planner, Goodyear, Ariz.

1st July 2020
view all

Twitter


AmerCityCounty

10 of America’s most idyllic lakeside communities dlvr.it/SR9yVd

27th May 2022
AmerCityCounty

Infrastructure improvements in cities often feature clean energy or connected technologies dlvr.it/SR6vm8

26th May 2022
AmerCityCounty

Ahead of Surfside condo collapse anniversary, Florida’s legislature approves statewide inspection standards dlvr.it/SR6qL7

26th May 2022
AmerCityCounty

American City & County survey highlights civic engagement priorities in public sector dlvr.it/SR3hMS

25th May 2022
AmerCityCounty

Changing recruitment practices can ease retention challenges dlvr.it/SQzzPt

24th May 2022
AmerCityCounty

EVs are coming in a big way – Will charging infrastructure be ready? dlvr.it/SQzfL1

24th May 2022
AmerCityCounty

Optimizing the 3 stages of RFP creation for faster results | June 16, 2022 at 2 PM ET dlvr.it/SQzV7d

24th May 2022
AmerCityCounty

Amid digital evolution, equity in accessibility is of utmost importance dlvr.it/SQwZ3b

23rd May 2022

Newsletters

Sign up for American City & County’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about local governments.

Resale Insights Dashboard

The Resale Insights Dashboard provides model-level data for the entire used equipment market to help you save time and money.

Municipal Cost Index

Updated monthly since 1978, our exclusive Municipal Cost Index shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital audience? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IWCE’s Urgent Communications
  • IWCE Expo

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

FOLLOW American City and County ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X