Los Angeles city planners held a virtual meeting last Thursday night to gather public feedback on their plans to meet ambitious housing production goals. While the meeting had a host of opposing viewpoints, dozens of Angelenos repeated the same argument throughout the evening: the city needs to allow new apartments to be built in single-family neighborhoods.
The already outlined blueprint by the L.A. Planning Department aims to achieve a state-mandated housing goal of nearly 457,000 new homes by 2029. Officials state that the city can get there by doubling down on development in already dense areas by offering builders incentives.
Yet, this blueprint leaves out the 72% of residential land in L.A. that is zoned exclusively for single-family homes. While the current plans have pleased homeowner groups, they have also spurred criticism from renter advocates, homeless service providers, and affordable housing developers who argue that apartment housing options should be developed in single-family neighborhoods.
“We live in the second largest city in the country, with so much economic opportunity, and yet we are landlocking 75% of our residentially zoned land for exclusively wealthy people,” said Kiersten Stanley of Studio City. “One wealthy family can come in and build a mini-mansion that’s 4,000 square feet. But God forbid four families move into four 1,000-square-foot places.”
Advocating for Change
Many other speakers mirrored Stanley’s argument, urging the city to reverse course and provide more opportunities to build up single-family neighborhoods. Many speakers opposing the current housing plans described the decision to exempt single-family neighborhoods as an issue of racial and economic justice. Some opponents pointed out that erecting barriers around areas that remain wealthy and exclusive today perpetuates the legacy of redlining and other zoning restrictions that had racist origins.
“Historically, it has been established to exclude people of color from predominantly white neighborhoods,” said Andres Perkins. “This drove a lot of unequal access to housing, education, and jobs. Continuing that will further that segregation we’re trying to move past.”
Despite opposing arguments, the virtual meeting also heard from advocates who wish to keep single-family neighborhoods left alone. They argue that new housing belongs on the city’s dense main throughways, as those apartments will be closer to transit lines and businesses.
“There’s simply no reason to wreck these neighborhoods with random density until we’ve built out our corridors closer to our commercial districts,” said Tracy Thrower Conyers with the group Concerned for Westchester/Playa Del Rey. Thrower further stated, “I often hear groups like the one I represent called NIMBYs… It’s unfortunate that local planning has been reduced to pejorative name-calling.”
Future Steps and Decision Making
City planning officials have made no immediate decisions on amending the plans, but the feedback during the meeting would help inform revised drafts, which will first go to the City Planning Commission before heading to the L.A. City Council for a final vote by February 2025.
“That said, we’re looking for your feedback today and we appreciate all the folks who’ve come out here today to share their perspective related to single-family,” Smith said. “We’re very much in a listening phase.”
