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By summer 2023, developers will build nearly 2,400 new apartments for low- and moderate-income residents of the San Fernando Valley, where such homes are rarely present compared to much of Los Angeles. I did.
The plan is proposed to promote growth at prices more Angelenos can afford, without requiring public subsidies, which are rare in low-income housing, and under Mayor Karen Bass’ signature initiative. I did.
Eighteen months later, the majority of the project was abandoned, with no one having broken ground. Now, four developments (a total of one-third of the units originally proposed) are moving forward after hurting the battle at City Hall and the courtroom. It’s happening against the bass and most of the city council’s wishes.
These affordable housing projects face problems as they touched on one of the third rails of Los Angeles politics. They are proposed on land that is otherwise reserved for detached homes.
The development plan was fascinated by the disruption of many angry homeowners with traffic, parking and disruption in the nature of the community. Opponents argue that developers will seize loopholes on the mayor’s initiative and place apartments where they weren’t intended. Other affordable housing projects in the valley are moving forward without the same pushback on sites in commonly permitted locations.
“These realities [projects] City Councilman Bob Blumenfield said: “It wasn’t because of design. It was opportunistic.”
But for those who supported allowing the project to move forward, resistance raises questions about the city’s commitment to solving the affordable housing crisis.
“We feel that Los Angeles is a city that is encouraged to run to stop things from happening. Stopping projects and stopping growth is a highly regarded political asset here. Masu” . “I think we need to change that culture. We have to move to a city where we say yes to housing to protect the future of the city.”
Within a week of taking office in December 2022, Bass will eliminate city zoning hearings, appeals, environmental reviews and other affordable housing development hurdles to help build faster. For this, I signed an order, Executive Directive 1. The program is popular, with around 24,000 units being approved for construction, according to the city planning department.
The mayor’s order did not say either way about eligibility for single-family homes. Some developers have determined that executive directive 1 can be combined with state laws designed to promote housing construction and apply rules to various detached house sites in the valley. Such projects have at least submitted preliminary plans to the city. Its biggest project was a 611-unit apartment in Woodland Hills near the LA River.
Once the development plans became known, the homeowner groups began to push back. In June 2023, Bass revised Executive Directive 1, blocking new projects in the future, saying that zoned properties for detached homes were not permitted.
This change left the fate of ten projects in the book already in the air, launching more than a year of intense politics and legal battles.
The conflict coincides with other battles in Los Angeles, about affordable housing in detached homes. Almost three-quarters of the land in LA’s residential areas, including the wealthiest areas of LA, are reserved for single-family homes. As part of the state-mandated rezoning plan, some social justice and housing groups have said that the city will allow low-income housing to consolidate these communities and ease evacuation pressure elsewhere. I was hoping for it. However, the homeowner’s organization fought fiercely against the proposal, claiming that a remote development would overwhelm the neighborhood, especially as state law already allows housing units attached to most plots. The bass and council tasted the side of the neighborhood group.
The city’s planning department had considered some of the proposals for Valley Executive Directive 1 that would be eligible under the mayor’s order before reversing the course after the order was changed. The developer appealed these decisions to the city council. The state’s Housing Development Agency urged approval of the project and said in multiple letters to the city council that they were locked up when the permit process was submitted.
The first project of discussion was the proposal of 200 units in Sherman Oaks, a district in Raman. She argued that the city should follow state leadership and development should move forward. Her colleagues voted with her.
Within three weeks, the second project of Winnekta’s 360 units came before the council. Blumenfield, representing the area, argued that Bass ‘Order should be denied as it never means allowing apartments on detached housing sites. His colleagues voted for him. Two subsequent projects in the Blumenfield district of Leseda and one of the Imelda Padilla Councillors of Sun Valley, Imelda Padilla, were similarly turned down. The remaining half dozen suggestions, including those in Woodland Hills, were dumped.
The lawsuit comes next. Yimby Law, a statewide nonprofit suing local governments that denies housing, filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, in LA County Superior Court, on behalf of a trio of rejected projects. Community group Ethel Avenue Neighborhood Asson sued the city more than it was approved.
Sonja Trauss, executive director of Yimby Law, said decisions regarding housing development should not be based on individual councillors’ wishes and not on what city rules say when the project is submitted.
“They broke their laws,” Truss said.
In the courtroom, the city’s attorney argued that the Bass revision order only made it clear that the denial was appropriate because multi-family projects were prohibited in single-family home lots. Three separate judges refused to discuss the matter and asked the city to approve the project.
“There is no reason to believe that the substantial changes enacted by the revised ED 1 are secretly and quietly hidden in the clear language of the original ED 1,” Judge Curtis Kin said in December 2024. I wrote about the decision regarding the Receda Project.
This month the Sherman Oaks case was resolved, and the developer agreed to lower the building height from seven stories to six stories by placing one level car park underground. The lawyer representing the neighborhood group declined to comment, and developer Leon Benrimon, a staff member of Bedrock Property Group, could not contact the comment.
Currently, four projects have not been cleared for construction in the middle of the subdivision, but some are out of reach of the surroundings than others. The detached house controls the block where the Sherman Oaks and the six-storey Receda project is planned. The Sherman Oaks site is located next to the school and near two main avenues. The Receda site is located on a four-lane street. The seven-story Winnetka project is suitable for nearby developments, including an existing apartment next door and a gas station in the corner.
In Sun Valley, developer and architect Jeff Zubikowski hopes to build 78 apartments with studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedroom units in the three-storey complex. He said his proposals are community sensitive, providing more parking than he needs, and providing another apartment neighbor to the site.
Future tenants’ income and rent restrictions are based on household size. Each person earns under $77,600 and can rent the studio for $1,942. Couples can rent a one-bedroom for $2,080, with a maximum of $88,720 together.
“There’s this crazy housing shortage in the city and in California,” Zubikowski said. “There’s this lacking middle ground [of housing] It has been well served for years. ”
For some neighbors, the proposal remains an unwelcome intrusion. Normao is the chairman of the Sun Valley Area Neighborhood Council. Chavez said the city should save its detached residential area to free itself from traffic and limit changes to the community’s makeup.
“When it’s a detached house, you’ll come to know that your neighbors and your neighbors are proud of their community,” Chavez said. “It’s more maintained.”
Chávez means adding an apartment to the street.
Bass ‘Office did not respond to the list of questions in The Times. In previous comments, the mayor highlights that she supported affordable housing across the city, and that her executive order paved the way for tens of thousands of new homes.
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