AIALA ADVOCACY REPORT
AUGUST 6, 2021
From the desk of Will Wright, Hon. AIA|LA
Director of Government & Public Affairs
Advancing AIALA’s Call To Action To House All Angelenos
As announced earlier this summer, AIALA offers seven recommendations for how we can address the severity of our regional housing crisis. With various planning initiatives currently advancing at Los Angeles City Hall, we have an opportunity to connect each of our recommendations to a set of pro-active strategies and next steps, and to tie each of these recommendations to specific items on City Council’s agenda.
During the month of August, we’re hosting a series of ‘office hours’ with the team at Los Angeles City Planning that is working on the new zoning code and DTLA 2040 community plan update. This is a follow up from our recent meeting with LACP about the new zoning code. You can watch that presentation on AIALA’s You Tube Page.
We’re also coordinating working sessions with the Planning Directors of Council Districts 2, 4, 10, 11, and 14 — and anticipate scheduling more in the weeks ahead.
Click on the links below to RSVP to the meetings you’d like to attend and please come prepared to share input on how we can more effectively advance AIALA’s Call To Action to House All Angelenos, as well as, implement the specific recommendations we heard at our 6th annual Design For Dignity to address our homelessness and affordable housing crisis.
Call for Action: House All Angelenos
Recommendations heard at the 6th annual Design For Dignity Conference
Virtual “Office Hours” w/ Los Angeles City Planning and interactive working sessions to ask questions and provide comments on the new zoning code and the DTLA 2040 community plan update.
LACP Meeting #1 = Aug 16, 2021 (2:30pm – 3:30pm)
LACP Meeting #2 – Aug 18, 2021 (10:00am – 11:00am)
LACP Meeting #3 = Aug 19, 2021 (10:00am – 11:00am)
We are also organizing a series of meetings directly with the Planning Directors of numerous Council Members. These meetings will serve as an opportunity for AIA Members to share more insight about the various regulatory hurdles and code conflicts that they encounter, especially when they impact our ability to deliver housing more effectively. AIA members will be given an opportunity to share their insight and observations about the policy changes we need to see to ensure more housing for all during these interactive, participatory roundtable dialogues.
Please come prepared to further discuss the AIALA’s Call To Action To House All Angelenos and to share your specific recommendations for how we can improve the entitlement, permitting, and regulatory process.
AIA LA & Council District #14 (Kevin DeLeon) = Housing For All & DTLA 2040
When: Aug 19, 2021 (3:30pm – 5:00pm)
AIA LA & Council District #2 (Paul Krekorian) = Housing For All
When: Aug 26, 2021 (1:00pm – 1:59pm)
AIA LA & Council District #11 (Mike Bonin) = Housing For All
When: Aug 26, 2021 (2:00pm – 3:00pm)
AIA LA & Council District #4 (Nithya Raman) = Housing For All
When: Aug 26, 2021 (3:00pm – 4:00pm)
AIA LA & Council District #8 (Marqueece Harris-Dawson) = Housing For All
When: Sept 3, 2021 (1:00pm – 2:30pm)
AIA LA & Council District #10 (Mark Ridley-Thomas) = Housing For All
When: Sept 7, 2021 (11:00am – 12:00pm)
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with details about how to participate in these working sessions via zoom.
If you’re interested in getting involved in any of the above action-items, then please connect with me at Will@aialosangeles.org
And please RSVP to the working sessions you’d like to attend directly.
Your leadership, involvement, and expertise will be fundamental to our success.
NEXT STEPS AS THEY RELATE TO EACH OF THE SEVEN RECOMMENDATIONS
During the meetings we are scheduling with Council Offices, we will pursue the following next steps and identify a council champion to further advance each initiative. We will also be looking to strengthen our connection to a regional pro-housing coalition.
(1) Act to repeal 1986 Prop U’s downzone along all of the commercial boulevards.
Relevant Council File = 20-1042
Next Steps: Advocate during the RHNA Rezoning Program (2021 – 2024) to restore the the zoning capacity of our commercial corridors back to a 3:1 FAR baseline citywide. 1986’s Prop U cut in half the capacity of the vast majority of our commercial corridors down to a 1:1.5 Floor-Area-Ratio (FAR), which causes a complicated, litigious, and uncertain tangle of general plan amendments.
(2) Incentivize, and allow as standard, new models of housing.
Relevant Council File = N/A
Next Steps: Advocate to support and expand The Housing Typologies Toolkit, which was issued by USC’s University Initiative To Eliminate Homelessness. Identify which specific zoning impediments prevent that ability to deliver this diverse, wide-array of housing typologies and pursue an ‘all of the above’ strategy to ensure all options are on the table when it comes to defining what is a ‘home’.
(3) Advocate that the State Board of Equalization remove the requirement that developers obtain government financing to qualify for the property tax exemption (Property Tax Rule 140(a)(1) and (2)).
Relevant Council File = N/A
Next Steps: We will connect with AIA California to develop next steps in Sacramento.
(4) Provide a fully coordinated, on-line submittal and approval process.
Relevant Council File = 21-054
Next Steps: Continue working with LADBS to support the comprehensive roll-out of their Build LA online system and the implementation of the Angeleno Account with the various Departments under the purview of the Board of Public Works. And advocate support for Councilmember Kevin DeLeon’s motion to advance “Expedited Permitting Process / Permanent Supportive Housing / Affordable Housing / Central Coordination Hub”.
(5) Modify transitional height restrictions which effectively downzone our commercial boulevards.
Relevant Council File = 20-1042
Next Steps: Advocate during the RHNA Rezoning Program (2021 – 2024) to improve the design methodology utilized to integrate and connect our residential neighborhoods and the commercial streets that serve as the connective tissue and urban fabric of our city. We can also address transitional heights during the process to update the citywide affordable housing incentive program, clarify and consolidate density bonus provisions, and ensure built projects have more amenities to enliven and nourish the bio-diversity, urban canopy, and shade equity of neighborhoods.
(6) Advance inclusionary zoning (IZ) policies carefully designed to achieve pro-housing outcomes and increase the total number of new affordable homes.
Relevant Council File = Case Number: ENV-2017-433-EIR, CPC-2017-432-CPU, CPC-2014-1582-CA
Next Steps: To work with the City Planning Commission and Council Districts 1, 9, and 14 to explore if inclusionary zoning will be a more effective way to ensure that more projects ‘pencil-out’ and are financially feasible by increasing the baseline FAR to 6:1 with citywide inclusionary provisions to ensure that each project includes its fair share of affordable housing. For more info, read Councilmember Kevin DeLeon’s June 15th letter to the City Planning Commission about the DTLA 2040 update.
(7) Petition the Federal Government to declare that housing is an infrastructure right and provide generous Section 8 vouchers to all residents suffering from housing insecurity.
Relevant Council File = N/A
Next Steps: We will connect with AIA National to develop next steps in Washington D.C.
