LA Mayor Signs Ordinance Streamlining Affordable Housing Developments

LOS ANGELES -- Mayor Karen Bass today 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. Many developers avoid the process by limiting housing projects to 49 units in an attempt to avoid the review -- reducing affordable housing units when the project could support far more.

Bass signed the new ordinance into law alongside Council President Paul Krekorian and Council President Pro Tempore Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who co-authored the legislation. Bass said the ordinance is part of an effort that was already long underway by the time she was sworn in as mayor in December.

The mayor emphasized the urgency to move unhoused Angelenos inside, underscoring last week's release of the results from Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority's 2023 point-in-time homeless count.

``My first executive directive focused on dramatically accelerating and lowering the cost of affordable housing,'' Bass said. ``By cutting through red tape at City Hall, we have shortened the process in time from a matter of months to a matter of days.''

Within the six months that Bass her executive directive, the city approved 22 housing projects -- representing about 1,600 units of affordable housing, according to the mayor's office.

-- City News Service