Enforced by Los Angeles’ City Housing Department, HCIDLA, the linkage fee is instituted on commercial and market‐rate residential development that are used solely to help build affordable housing for lower‐income residents. The expected revenue generated from the fee is expected to be over $100 million per year, as outlined in this report. More on the background of the linkage fees in Los Angeles can be read on HCIDLA’s website here.

Beyond LA, many other cities have linkage fees and impact fees on developers to help fund more affordable housing. For example, Boston, MA created its commercial linkage fee program in 1983, making it one of the first in the country when it was enacted into law in 1987. Between 2004 and 2014, Boston’s linkage fee collection averaged around $6.46 million per year. San Francisco has collected $3.4 million per year since 1988. Learn more here.