Mayor Villaraigosa issued a new proposal for affordable housing in the city. Over the next five years, the city seeks to spend $5 billion for affordable housing in partnership with private sector sources like developers, employers and financial institutions. SBAOR has participated in regional business coalitions working with city officials for improved housing.
The Mayor's proposed $5 billion Housing Plan for the City of Los Angeles is available here. A coalition of Los Angeles-area business organizations, including SBAOR, is working with L.A. city officials to put together a housing plan that works. The coalition said in a statement that "the broad proposal offered by the Mayor contains some important policy advances that could help to make the process of housing development more efficient. Reforms of the planning and EIR processes will be helpful and should encourage more development in those neighborhoods that need more housing."
The business coalition continued in its statement that "some of the concepts raised in the Mayor’s plan now need to be hammered into specific proposals. It will be the details of these proposals that will determine if these plans will succeed or fail in bringing more affordable and diverse housing to Los Angeles."
Private and non-profit developers have added thousands of units of housing at all levels of affordability across many neighborhoods of Los Angeles over the past several years. But given the current economic climate, it will be more challenging to match these achievements over the next several years.