A 49-Unit Affordable Housing Community In Los Angeles Has Taken 17 Years to Build And It's Still Not Done

Los Angeles is one of the nation's most challenging housing markets when it comes to affordability, mainly because of a lack of viable housing stock. The fact that a 49-unit affordable housing project has taken 17 years to build and still isn't complete speaks to the numerous difficulties that come with trying to replenish the city's rapidly diminishing housing stock. Builders and developers cite an overabundance of bureaucratic requirements as the culprit.

A Ray Of Hope In Boyle Heights

Although L.A.'s homelessness crisis has been chronicled in thousands of YouTube videos for the past the last several years, the problem is not new. Frustrated L.A. renters have been complaining about a lack of affordable housing stock for decades. The high price of land and labor in the city are both part of why the area's developers have concentrated mainly on the luxury sector.

By the time a for-profit developer factors in the cost and the time it will take to construct new housing, the only way the units pencil out in terms of profit is if they are selling or renting for top dollar. Complicating that is the fact that developers are increasingly targeting comparatively less expensive land in lower- to middle-income neighborhoods for their developments. For them, that's where the value is.

As the old mom-and-pop landlords sell out, their units are replaced by gleaming new buildings aimed squarely at the BMW or dual-income-no-kids (DINK) crowd. The epicenter of this high-speed gentrification is in East Los Angeles neighborhoods like Boyle Heights. It was a ray of hope in 2007 when the Community of Friends, a non-profit organization, was given land to build a 49-unit affordable housing community there. Then it got complicated.

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The Odyssey Of Lorena Plaza

The proposed affordable community in Boyle Heights was to be known as Lorena Plaza. The community, which was first envisioned in 2007, didn't break ground on construction until last year. A child born on the day the Community for Friends got the land grant for Lorena Plaza will have graduated from high school and even perhaps a four-year university by the time Lorena Plaza opens for occupancy.

It's unacceptable for even a nonprofit organization to have to wait nearly two decades to open construction on land they intend to develop. According to the developers, the labyrinth of regulations, government agency signoffs and permits that are required to open an affordable housing project is the main source of the delay. Many subsidized housing communities rely on funding or approval from multiple government agencies at the city, state and federal levels.

Coordinating that effort can be a Herculean task for even the most hardened and experienced developers. California State University Northridge and the University of California Los Angeles cooperated on a study of building permits issued in Los Angeles between 2010 and 2022 that showed it takes an average of four years from the date a building permit is granted until it opens. It also showed that over one-third of the permits granted during that time are for buildings that have yet to be constructed.

 A New Mayor Wants To Fast-Track New Development

Los Angeles claims to have set a goal of building 450,000 new housing units by 2029. That can’t happen if projects like Lorena Plaza are allowed to languish in a sea of red tape. New Mayor Karen Bass has signed an executive order that speeds up the zoning approval process for affordable housing developments, allowing the process to be completed within a matter of months in some cases.

At the state level, Gov. Gavin Newsome has signed legislation aimed at alleviating the housing crisis. One important change is a law that limits the amount of time it can take to hear environmental appeals that have the potential to stop the construction of a new project. It remains to be seen whether these steps will spur increased development of affordable housing. In the meantime, California residents in need of affordable housing have no choice but to continue waiting.

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