Los Angeles City Planning Calls for a More Equitable Housing Strategy

LOS ANGELES, May 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Los Angeles City Planning released a report on the outlining bold strategies to distribute affordable housing more equitably throughout the City. The report to the City Council proposes the establishment of an equitable Housing Element rezoning program, the establishment of housing targets by community, and other strategies to ensure that equity is at the forefront of future land use considerations.

The centerpiece of the report is a set of recommendations that prioritizes the fair distribution of affordable units across the City in both short and long-term planning efforts. By addressing issues related to zoning capacity, the recommendations will ensure that Los Angeles' community-by-community approach to planning complements citywide objectives for accommodating growth in a way that furthers equity.

"Affordable housing has become an evermore critical lifeline for so many Angelenos," said Director of Planning Vince Bertoni. "With housing costs on the rise, we must facilitate housing production across every one of our neighborhoods to address our present and future needs. By aligning our long-range policies, we can achieve fair, equitable, and meaningful results."

As part of this effort to promote more affordable housing and overall housing opportunities across LA, City Planning is proposing new rezoning strategies that will focus additional housing capacity in high-opportunity areas with good access to jobs and transit, while protecting tenants and vulnerable communities as well as environmentally sensitive areas. This study and the recommendations from the key findings will lay the foundation for policy decisions on allocating land resources, the Housing Element of the General Plan plays a pivotal role in advancing changes such as expanding options for alternative models of housing.

City Planning is also proposing a structural change that will require every neighborhood in LA to target fair-share zoning allocations to guide equitably distributed affordable housing across the City. An explicit objective of this new plan is to reverse past land use policies that have contributed to racial segregation. The plan would seek to undo those policies by expanding housing opportunities in higher-resource areas and further prioritizing affordable housing.

The report, coauthored with the Housing + Community Investment Department (HCID), also calls on the City Council to consider the development of additional housing incentive programs that would streamline the approval process for affordable units and expand the City's existing programs into more neighborhoods where housing is needed.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
LA City Planning
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213.978.1248

SOURCE LA City Planning

Related Links

http://planning.lacity.org/