Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky on Wednesday called on Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to rework a proposal that would lift the city’s limits on height, density or other planning rules for residential construction projects that have as little as one affordable housing unit reports the Los Angeles Times.
Yaroslavsky said the proposed ordinance, in its current form, would spark a wave of demolitions in neighborhoods across the city — with pricey, multi-story housing developments replacing smaller, rent-controlled apartments.
The proposal, which is scheduled for consideration by the council’s planning committee next week, would apply to buildings that designate as affordable as little as 5% of the total units in a project.
“This is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” he said. “There’s a lot of talk about affordable housing, when as many as 95% of [the units] will be market rate.
“And for the number of units they do build, they get to build a bigger project, a taller project, and in the process you’ve displaced people who were living in more affordable units to begin with.”
In a letter sent this week, Yaroslavsky offered a counterproposal, saying that unless changes are made, voters would refuse to support future affordable-housing bond measures. Villaraigosa has talked about pushing a successor to Proposition H, the $1-billion housing bond that fell shy of two-thirds approval last year.
Read it here: Changes in L.A. Residential Zoning Proposal