In the Headlines
August 29, 2021
LA Is Trying to Plan For a Big Downtown Housing Boom. Can It Meet the Need?
Bisnow
West Coast Land Use attorney Ryan Leaderman was quoted in Bisnow's article about the development of downtown Los Angeles over the past 20 years, both commercially and residentially. The population has increased from 28,000 in 2000 to roughly 80,000 in 2019. The Department of City Planning’s Downtown LA Community Plan projects the addition of 125,000 residents and 55,000 jobs by 2040.
An important component of the Community Plan was to encourage the creation of affordable housing in the area. Although in the five-year period between the plan’s 2013 adoption and 2018, no housing units were built in the area it covered, according to the city planning department.
“If you burden Downtown with a whole bunch of regulations that are not applicable to other parts of the city, I just don't think that you're going to have robust development here because it's going to be too difficult and too expensive,” said Mr. Leaderman.
READ: LA Is Trying to Plan For a Big Downtown Housing Boom. Can It Meet the Need?
An important component of the Community Plan was to encourage the creation of affordable housing in the area. Although in the five-year period between the plan’s 2013 adoption and 2018, no housing units were built in the area it covered, according to the city planning department.
“If you burden Downtown with a whole bunch of regulations that are not applicable to other parts of the city, I just don't think that you're going to have robust development here because it's going to be too difficult and too expensive,” said Mr. Leaderman.
READ: LA Is Trying to Plan For a Big Downtown Housing Boom. Can It Meet the Need?