New Coalition Formed With Goal of Building An Unprecedented 130,000 New Affordable Homes In Los Angeles By 2029
October 26, 2021 (LOS ANGELES). A new coalition has been formed to develop the resources needed to build more than 130,000 new homes for essential workers and other middle-income residents in the Los Angeles region by 2029, a timeline set by California’s latest state-mandated housing production goals, which went into effect earlier this month.
The Essential Housing Campaign is being led by The Housing Innovation Collaborative (HICo), the Los Angeles-based nonprofit housing R&D organization, in collaboration with the key leadership from the public and private sectors, represented by Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) and the Urban Land Institute (ULI).
“The pandemic has reinforced what we have long known: our housing crisis acts as a barrier to opportunity for hard-working Angelenos, and will only continue to intensify without immediate solutions and resources,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “Our essential workers are the foundation that keeps our city running, and this new pledge to create affordable housing in the communities they serve will help ensure they can access prosperity.”
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“Our essential workers are the foundation that keeps our city running…”
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti
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While essential workers encompass a wide range of incomes, the Campaign is particularly focused on building housing for moderate income essential workers due to the lack of subsidy and funding sources to meet the housing needs of this segment. The Campaign’s ambitious 130,000-home goal is cited by SCAG – the nation’s largest metropolitan planning organization – as the number of new homes needed in Los Angeles County for households in the moderate income segment (those earning 80-120% of area median income) – in the recently adopted 2021 – 2029 Regional Housing Needs Assessment Allocation Plan.
“The ‘middle income’ segment is the most underserved segment in new housing development – creating a gap in the housing market known as ‘the missing middle’,” said Charly Ligety, Managing Director of HICo, “where many in our essential workforce earn too much to qualify for affordable housing, but not enough to afford market-rate housing in the communities they serve, particularly in high-cost areas like Los Angeles, resulting in many workers commuting long distances to make ends meet.”
Through a series of educational programming, action planning, and goal tracking, The Essential Housing Campaign is helping raise awareness of this housing development challenge, while also helping align the resources and stakeholders needed to pivot the community towards building more equitable housing in the region.
“If left unchecked, the problem of housing affordability for middle income workers is projected to get worse,” said Ligety.
In Los Angeles County, the median home price rose 25% to a record $775,000 in May 2021, as demand for housing – further accelerated by the pandemic – continues to far exceed current housing supply in the region. Despite growing demand, the supply of housing for middle-income households is expected to remain relatively unchanged in the next several years as almost all new housing continues to be built for the highest end of the market in Los Angeles – a pattern that has been driving more essential workers out of the communities they serve.
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“If left unchecked, the problem of housing affordability for middle income workers is projected to get worse…”
HICo Managing Director, Charly Ligety
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Over the past seven years in the City of Los Angeles, for example – the County’s largest city of almost 4 million – there have been less than 900 new moderate-income housing units built, according to SCAG and LA City data, accounting for less than one percent of total new housing supply, compared with almost 106,000 new above-moderate market-rate housing units in the City during the same period.
A recent HUD report highlighted 25 metropolitan areas across the country where the median sales price of a single family home was more than 5x the median household income. The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metropolitan area had the second highest ratio in the country, with the median home price more than 8.4x the median household income.
“The Southern California region, like many other parts of the state, is facing a housing crisis unparalleled in our state’s history. Providing tools and developing new approaches to affordability and public-private collaboration will be vital in our efforts to build middle-income housing projects throughout the region,” said Clint Lorimore, President of SCAG, which is tasked with helping the broader Southern California region’s 197 local governments meet the ambitious housing production goals with assistance in updating housing elements, sharing data between cities, among other collaborative initiatives.
“It is important that housing industry leaders, in partnership with our community and public sector stakeholders, pave the way forward in building more housing for our essential workers in the region,” said Marty Borko, Executive Director of the ULI Los Angeles Chapter, a research and programming partner in the Campaign.
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“…new approaches to affordability and public-private collaboration will be vital in our efforts…”
President of SCAG Clint Lorimore
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“The Essential Housing Campaign presents the unique opportunity for scaling equitable community development,” said Byran Barker, Director of Citi Community Capital. “Los Angeles County is the 18th largest economy in the world – the region has the resources to solve the ‘missing middle’ housing shortage with creative approaches to policy, finance, and construction methods – the success of the Campaign depends on our ability to collaborate.”
The Essential Housing Campaign kicked off with its educational programming phase in August, hosting over 30 weekly discussions and presentations to date with architects, developers, public officials and community leaders internationally to showcase effective approaches for accelerating lower cost, high-quality middle-income housing. The growing series of presentations highlighting new solutions – ranging from the latest construction trends in modular building and 3D printing, land use and zoning reforms, new local, state, and federal policies, and creative financing mechanisms – can be viewed at The Essential Housing Campaign’s website (www.housinginnovation.co/essential) and on HICo’s YouTube Channel (see full playlist).
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“…the success of the Campaign depends on our ability to collaborate.”
Director of Citi Community Capital, Byran Barker
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With the online public forum open, the Campaign’s next steps in reaching the 130,000 housing production goal will involve the release of a comprehensive public-private action plan and identifying opportunities to pilot new affordable housing development strategies in the region.
The Housing Innovation Collaborative (“HICo”) is a solution-oriented, non-profit housing R&D organization based in Los Angeles, CA, focused on accelerating the next generation of design, finance and policy to address the housing crisis.
HICo’s groundbreaking online platform – at housinginnovation.co – has been used by cities across the country to address homelessness and natural disaster recovery. HICo’s prior work has included creating the world’s largest open-sourced database of rapidly deployable emergency shelter solutions in partnership with FEMA and HUD. Its research was recently published in U.S. Housing Department’s national journal, Cityscape (link).
For more information about The Essential Housing Campaign, visit housinginnovation.co/essential. Stay updated with the Campaign’s upcoming releases and other HICo programs by subscribing to HICo’s weekly newsletter at https://housinginnovation.co/subscribe/.
PDF Download: The Essential Housing Campaign PR 10.26.21