More Existing Affordable Housing Sitting Empty
The road to Hell is famously paved with good intentions.
Except in Los Angeles, where it’s all too often paved with developer dollars masquerading as good intentions.
2900 Francis Avenue is a serene garden court apartment - the kind that are treasured by renters of all social classes. And several of its 10 rent-stabilized units are boarded up.
The owner of the complex has applied to replace it with an ED1 complex.
I don’t have a blanket opposition to new development. But it is concerning to me that existing affordable housing is being taken off the market and sitting empty for years while new projects are planned, permitted, and built.
Assuming the proposed project is even completed (which doesn’t always happen), displaced tenants often aren’t able to exercise their right of return because, realistically, very few people can wait months, let alone YEARS, for a replacement apartment.
There needs to be stronger focus on maximizing development without displacement. However well intentioned ED1 may be, it’s had the side effect of displacing existing tenants.
Build above a strip mall. Develop a parking lot. Redevelop a dead mall (I’d love to see the Puente Hills Mall become the next Park La Brea). Fill in existing empty lots whenever possible. Redevelop the Santa Monica Airport when it closes in 2028.
What we’re doing now isn’t working the way it should.
Mayor Bass is about to face Judge David O. Carter in a hearing about missing money from funds meant to combat homelessness. Does she realize that her ED1 directive is hurting some of the city’s most vulnerable renters?
More importantly, does she even care?