Two Failed TOC Projects, 12 Households Displaced, Zero Recourse.
I’ve mentioned previously that, unfortunately, developers can’t always be trusted to keep their word. They do sometimes run out of money, run into legal issues, have to change their plans due to unexpected problems, and the bad ones might even bribe public officials to get what they want.
While they aren’t all like that, the bad ones are hurting Angelenos.
Case in point: two approved-but-unbuilt TOC projects that displaced 12 households.
832 South Kenmore Avenue, site of one such project, is a good location for a TOC building. It’s in Koreatown, which is one of the most walkable and transit-connected neighborhoods in the city.
A 45-unit building with 5 extremely low-income unit buildings was approved in 2022, but has not been built. Instead, the owners are selling the site, with entitlements.
The existing building has six RSO units, all of which have been sitting empty.
Six more rent-stabilized apartments also stood at 1537 West Cambria Street in Westlake. That’s “stood”, past tense - it was torn down.
The planned TOC project, approved in 2022 but not built, would have had 43 units, and is even closer to the Westlake/MacArthur Park Metro station than 832 South Kenmore is to the Wilshire/Vermont station.
The vacant lot is for sale - again, with entitlements.
I wonder where the former tenants are now. It sure seems to be getting harder and harder for low-income Angelenos to stay continuously housed. And as regular readers know, there are rarely, if ever, any consequences for a promised project never getting built.
Between measure ULA and the rise in interest rates it is no wonder these developers are bailing. Sad but inevitable.
It's not the city's job to check the financial viability of a landowner. If a developer buys a property, or partners with an existing property-owner, then it is what it is. Either they develop, sell, or get foreclosed upon. I really don't think we want the public sector intervening in that.
The most popular solution to this is a land-value tax or, less radically, a vacancy tax. Many people think it would be incredibly effective, but it would be impossible to generate wide political support for it.