May 30, 2023|Press Release
LOS ANGELES - Earlier today, the Los Angeles City Council approved a motion by Councilwoman Yaroslavsky to eliminate a 2019 rule that forced affordable and homeless housing developers to replace all parking spaces when building on city-owned parking lots. This rule alone has added millions of dollars to potential projects, rendering them financially infeasible.
“We are in a severe housing and homelessness crisis. We should be focusing our resources to build housing for people, not for cars,” Councilwoman Yaroslavsky said. “One of the best tools we have available to rapidly add new units of housing is to leverage land we already own. But we are tying our own hands with unnecessary bureaucracy that can add millions of dollars to the cost of these projects. In my district alone, this one rule added over $3 million to a potential housing project.”
The 2019 rule was a result of an MOU between the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and the Housing Department, and applied to any housing project that would eliminate more than 25 spaces on a city-owned lot. The cost of replacing just one of these parking spaces is estimated to be as high as $70,000 so this rule imposed a minimum of $1.75 million in additional costs. This blanket rule didn’t account for on-the-ground circumstances that may have mitigated the need for 100% replacement parking. Importantly, the motion does not prevent the City from requiring the replacement of parking whenever needed, it only eliminates the automatic requirement that every space be replaced every time.
The motion introduced by Councilwoman Yaroslavsky also instructs the City Administrative Officer (CAO) to report to Council within 60 days, on all LADOT-owned facilities totaling 25 spaces or greater, by Council District, that will no longer be subject to the parking replacement requirements, along with the current status of any contemplated or in-process affordable or supportive housing developments, and the annual revenue and utilization rate of each parking facility. It also ensures that the livability, mobility, and commercial needs of communities are accounted for when a property is considered for housing.
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