AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Besides investing in programs to prevent and combat homelessness, Los Angeles County is also continuing to chip away at the affordable housing shortage, one of the primary drivers of homelessness.
With the region’s dire affordable housing shortage of 500,000 units leaving many people on the brink of homelessness, Los Angeles County is pursuing three P’s:
- Production of new affordable housing;
- Preservation of existing affordable housing; and
- Protection of tenants and related supportive programs, including pathways to homeownership.
The Board of Supervisors approved a comprehensive affordable housing plan in 2015 and 2017 that currently invests $100 million every year to build and rehab low and very low-income housing. They also passed motions that established the Affordable Housing Programs Budget Unit, Affordable Housing Coordinating Committee, and the Affordable Housing Outcomes Report. All were consolidated into the Homeless Initiative in 2021.
PRODUCTION
Permanent Supportive Housing and Affordable Housing for Low Income Households
- DHS and DMH Permanent Supportive Housing, including some funded through the Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool (FHSP)
- LACDA Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA)
- Repurposing County assets, including LAC+USC hospital campus
- Metro Joint Development
- Leveraging State and Federal Funding, such as Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC)
- Innovative Housing Typologies, including winners of the Housing Innovation Challenge
- Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)
Land Use Programs
- Inclusionary Zoning
- Value Capture and Incentive Zoning and Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District
- Land Banking
- Planning Strategies and Streamlined Approval
PRESERVATION
Policies and Programs to Preserve Existing Affordable Housing
- Affordable Housing Preservation Ordinance
- Community Land Trusts (CLTs)
- Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA)
Data and Analytical Tools
- Affordability Watch Database
- Tracking Regional Affordability and Challenges to Tenancy (TRACT)
- Equity Explorer
PROTECTION FOR TENANTS AND HOMELESS PREVENTION
- Rent Stabilization Ordinance
- Eviction Defense/Stay Housed LA
- COVID Tenant Protections and Rent Relief
- LACDA Rent Subsidies, Owner Incentives
- Homeless Prevention and Early Intervention with time-limited financial assistance and connections to services
Affordable Housing Outcomes Report
According to the 2021 LA County Annual Affordable Housing Outcomes Report released by the nonprofit California Housing Partnership, LA County and partnering local jurisdictions helped developers and service providers leverage state and federal resources to create more than 120,000 affordable homes by the end of 2020, representing a 4% increase from its 2019 inventory of affordable homes.
The report added that investing locally controlled funding into affordable housing production, preservation, and rental and operating subsidies, and promoting the adoption and use of pro-housing policies such as density bonuses, all contributed to reducing the affordable housing shortfall, which is now 82,393 units fewer than in 2014 but remains significant.
Without factoring in the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that disproportionately affected lower income households, the report concluded LA County needs to add approximately 499,430 affordable homes to meet the current demand among renter households at or below 50 percent of the area median income.