LA expedites first supportive housing project under new state law

Los Angeles has approved a 94-unit supportive housing project in Westlake. And it’s the first supportive housing project to be expedited through the state approval process under last year’s Assembly Bill 1197.

The Miramar Gold project is set to rise at a vacant site at 1438 Miramar Street, according to Urbanize. West Hollywood Community Housing Corporation is developing the project. 64North is the architect.

Half of the units are one-bedrooms reserved for anyone formerly homeless. The other half are one-, two-, and three-bedroom units for households with incomes less than half of area median income. The federal government’s AMI for L.A. County is currently $73,100.

AB 1197 came into effect this year and applies only to the city of L.A. The bill exempts supportive housing developments and homeless shelters from the often lengthy and oft-maligned environmental review process required under the California Environmental Quality Act.

The CEQA review process typically takes at least six months to a year. Parties opposed to development projects often challenge them under CEQA, pausing projects for longer or even torpedoing them all together.

Developers argue that CEQA pushes up costs and have long tried to pursuade the state to change the law.

West Hollywood Community Housing Corporation purchased its Westlake development site in February and has asked the state for $20 million in funding, according to Urbanize. L.A. County has provided $2 million for the project.

The firm secured construction financing for a Downtown L.A. project about a year ago and is also working on a development in the Pico-Union area. [Urbanize] — Dennis Lynch