Study finds 126 public sites in LA apt for home development

More than 100 publicly owned sites across Los Angeles could be used to build affordable housing.

That was the conclusion of a Center for Pacific Urbanism study that found 126 unused government sites suitable for affordable apartment complexes, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Downtown Los Angeles-based nonprofit analyzed everything from slope, zoning and nearness to utilities to come up with 65,000 parcels owned by the city, county, state, federal and other agencies, including Metro and the Los Angeles United School District.

Dario Rodman-Alvarez, an architect whose firm Pacific Urbanism founded the nonprofit, said he and his staff then looked at thousands that would be suitable for a model development of 36 homes with gardens.

From those, they hand-picked 121 winners to give officials “enough options to make decisions but not be overwhelmed by the sheer number of options.” Another five sites are ostensibly privately owned yet are listed as government sites in the Tax Assessor’s roll.

The study authors said they identified more than enough usable parcels to support 1,000 beds of shelter and permanent housing, and proposed a timeline to produce the housing within six months.

The Committee for Greater L.A. released the list of 126 proposed sites to prod City Hall to use surplus government land for homeless housing.

The committee, made up of leaders in philanthropy, business and government, sought to pressure Mayor Karen Bass to follow through on her campaign pledge to build 1,000 beds on public land in her first year in office.

“If you talked to people in the city … they will argue that it is a myth, that all the land that is available is really not appropriate for this use,” said Miguel Santana, chairman of the committee and former city administrative officer for Los Angeles who now leads the Weingart Foundation.

Bass has acknowledged the committee’s work, but said she has her own list of properties and a longer timeline for development. Her third executive order required the city administrative officer to create an inventory of city-owned land suitable for housing,

In an open letter, Bass said her staff was poring over a list of more than 3,300 parcels and has had preliminary discussions with City Council members to gauge their reaction to specific sites.

She said they have pinpointed sites for 500 interim housing beds and have submitted them for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s emergency small-homes program. If approved, she said, they could be built by July 2024.

But Bass said she wants to rethink the city’s approach to permanent housing on its lands to develop a “bigger and bolder” program.

She set a goal of January 2025 to come up with standards for identifying suitable land, community engagement strategies, provisions for infrastructure investments, new financing methods and innovative approaches to construction.

While working primarily from the city’s own list, Bass said, she will use the committee’s study to advance her goal of incorporating surplus land owned by regional and state agencies.

— Dana Bartholomew