Los Angeles City Council advances rezoning plan to meet state housing goals

By JOSE HERRERA, City News Service

The Los Angeles City Council approved a plan on Tuesday, Dec. 10 to rezone the city in a bid to boost construction of more than 250,000 new housing units while excluding such development in areas zoned for single-family homes.

The City Council unanimously approved its Citywide Housing Incentive Program ordinance in order to meet a February deadline to approve a plan leading to more affordable units and to comply with state housing obligations.

The ordinance is aimed at encouraging developers to build more affordable housing units in exchange for certain breaks on their projects, such as heights and parking regulations. Developers could also receive benefits for building near transit, jobs and good schools. Additional incentives would be available for projects that contain 100% affordable units.

Vince Bertoni, L.A.’s planning director, called the plan a “game changer” for the city and state of California, serving as a foundation for “ensuring development is possible and affordable units are actualized.”

In a letter to the Housing Department, the California Department of Housing and Community Development confirmed that the plan is compliant and will meet housing goals within L.A.’s 2021-29 Housing Element.

Department officials touted the expected growth of developments in so-called “high-opportunity communities,” such as commercial zones or where multi-family units exist, which would add more density to dense areas of the city.

The City Council approved a separate proposal to enshrine protections for renters. Low-income residents displaced by construction would be allowed to come back at either their prior rent or at a rate relative to their income. Renters would also receive expanded relocation assistance.

Councilmember Nithya Raman, chair of the council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, introduced an amendment to incorporate single-family-home neighborhoods, which make up 72% of the city, as areas where construction of new units would be allowed.

Raman’s amendment failed 10-5 with council members Bob Blumenfield, Heather Hutt, John Lee, Tim McOsker, Adrin Nazarian, Imelda Padilla, Traci Park, Monica Rodriguez, Katy Yaroslavsky and Hugo Soto-Martinez voting against it.

Raman said the city is spending hundreds of millions of dollars every year to stabilize tenants who are facing intense development pressures and evictions, and is attempting to house the largest homeless population in the country.

“These are a direct result of the lack of housing here in Los Angeles, which come from a really messed up land-use policy here in the city,” Raman said.

The city’s developers are expected to build 456,000 units by 2029 as required by the state, of which about 200,000 are supposed to be affordable.

“I don’t think this is going to help us meet those goals,” Raman said. “We are basically planning ourselves into a continuation of our existing housing crisis.”

Concerned about the potential penalties the city could face if it does not meet the state’s deadline, Blumenfield opposed Raman’s amendment.

“I’d like us to keep the conversation going about this idea of gently increasing density in single-family neighborhoods where it makes sense, but that is a complicated question and I worry about the solutions that are proposed as being a little bit too one-size-fits-all,” Blumenfield said.

Alfonso Directo Jr., advocacy manager for Alliance for Community Transit LA, urged council members to allow development in single-family home zones and relieve multi-family zones that are “already facing gentrification and displacement pressures.”

Some homeowners and neighborhood councils opposed such a move. Tess Taylor, president of the Greater Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council, said allowing construction in single-family zones would be “incompatible.” She argued the plan as presented would fulfill the regional housing needs.