LOS ANGELES - Mayor Karen Bass, Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez and Councilmember Nithya Raman highlighted the more than 7,000 units of affordable housing that have been accelerated by Mayor Bass’ first executive directive today at a permanent supportive housing project that opened sooner than originally planned after City Hall cut through red tape and bureaucracy. Watch the press event here.
“Over the past nine months, we’ve expedited more than 7,000 units of affordable housing in projects all across our city, including the one we’re at today,” said Mayor Karen Bass at the Wilcox, a permanent supportive housing project for older Angelenos developed by Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation. “With 46,000 people living on our streets, there is no way that we can let up. This is what urgency looks like. Approval processes that used to take 6 months are taking 47 days. Other projects that weren’t going to be ready until 2025 are going to come online next year. And let me be clear – when we save time, we save money and we save lives.”
“This project is showing the City of Los Angeles how we’re going to turn this housing and homelessness crisis around. Executive Directive 1 is an example of the kind of policy that we know works,” said Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, who represents Hollywood and East Hollywood. “We know what works, it’s leading with compassion and building the type of housing that unhoused people need, while bringing the community in with a collaborative effort. We could not be happier to open this here in District 13 and let’s build many, many, many more.”
“Developers have told the City over and over again that the lack of predictability and efficiency of the approvals process had prevented them from building desperately needed affordable housing,” said Councilmember Nithya Raman, Chair of the City Council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee. “Executive Directive 1 expedites the development approval process and makes it significantly more predictable. With the City Council’s action to codify ED1 into law, we can continue to meet this crisis with the urgency it requires.”
Signed by Mayor Bass on December 16, 2022, Executive Directive 1 has a proven track record of accelerating and lowering the cost of affordable housing projects being built in Los Angeles. The directive continues to dramatically increase the number of affordable housing housing projects and units in the development pipeline:
-
95 affordable housing projects have been filed with the Department of City Planning
-
38 project cases have been completed (57 are currently under review)
-
7,301 units of affordable housing have been proposed, of which:
-
2,990 units of affordable housing are approved
-
4,311 units of affordable housing are currently under review
-
-
47 days is the average processing time for projects with complete paperwork
Last Thursday, Mayor Bass announced that following City Council action, the Department of City Planning released a draft ordinance to make Executive Directive 1 permanent. See the draft ordinance here. Read the fact sheet here. The Department of City Planning will conduct a public hearing on October 11th, 2023. The proposed draft will then be considered by the Planning Commission, City Council and Mayor in November and December of this year.