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When Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced her reelection bid this week, she highlighted the success of her efforts to speed up approvals for new affordable housing.
Executive Order 1, signed in December 2022, has succeeded in significantly shortening the time it takes to review 100% affordable projects, resulting in a flood of development proposals. The Planning Department says it has received applications to build around 20,000 units of affordable housing, which have limitations on the rent that can be charged to low-income tenants.
But ED1 also sparked backlash from some community groups. Renter advocates said the ED1 project would lead to the demolition of too many rent-controlled apartments, upending renters’ lives. Homeowners groups complained that the ED1 project was proposed in a historic preservation district, creating fears that six-story apartment buildings would rise next to stately Victorians and Arts and Crafts bungalows.
On Monday, Governor Bass tried to quell the unrest by restricting where the faster ED1 process can be used.
In his eight-page memo, Bass clarified that properties in historic districts will no longer be eligible for ED1’s fast-track process. These districts include many areas such as Highland Park, Lincoln Heights and South Los Angeles.
The mayor also excluded hillside properties in “very high fire danger areas,” which would affect parts of Silver Lake, Lincoln Heights and Hollywood Hills.
In his memo, Bass also proposed a concession to tenants’ rights groups to exclude properties with more than 12 rent-controlled units. The change came months after ED1 developers proposed a 153-unit project in Eagle Rock that would demolish 17 rent-controlled apartments, some of which are occupied by low-income families.
Rene Moya, with the Northeast chapter of the Los Angeles Residents Union, is concerned about the change. He said the 12-unit limit “doesn’t mean anything except it’s a developer perk.” He said more than half of the rent-controlled units in the city are in properties with 10 units or fewer.
“This bill targets the majority of rent-controlled people in the city and puts them at risk of being permanently forced out of the city,” he said.
Cindy Shubatal, co-founder of United Neighbors, a group that has opposed the proposed low-density rezoning, was much more optimistic. She praised Bass for working with various community groups over the course of months to address concerns about ED1, including its encroachment on historic neighborhoods.
“She listened,” Chavatar said in an interview.
YIMBY activists, who seek to eliminate restrictions on housing construction and go by the nickname “Yes In My Backyard,” were largely disappointed, arguing that ED1 was effective precisely because of its simplicity.
Scott Epstein, director of policy and research at the housing advocacy group Abundant Housing LA, said ED1’s multitude of changes make planning much more complicated and give developers less flexibility to make their projects financially viable.
Joseph Cohen May, a housing activist who lives in downtown Los Angeles, also criticized the decision to carve out the historic district.
“Cutting this program shows that the Bass administration is more interested in pleasing interest groups than it is in maximizing the supply of affordable housing and quickly ending homelessness,” he said.
Bass’ team disputed the allegations, saying the mayor continues to fast-track approvals for thousands of new affordable housing units.
“Mayor Bass believes policies should be constantly evaluated and improved, which is what this amendment is about,” said Clara Karger, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bass. “The mayor also believes that if everyone is on board, we can build more housing.”
It’s not yet clear how much of an impact the latest changes will have. Of the more than 200 project applications submitted so far, 10 were proposed in historic districts, and fewer than 10 were on sites with more than a dozen rent-controlled apartments, according to the mayor’s team.
Mayor Bass has highlighted ED1 in speeches and community events as one of the major successes of his administration. According to information released by the mayor’s office last year, approvals for 100 percent affordable housing projects now take an average of 45 days, down from more than six months.
The changes Governor Bass implemented this week are unlikely to address all community concerns about ED1. For example, YIMBYs remain unhappy that Governor Bass excluded single-family home neighborhoods from the initiative early in her administration.
Meanwhile, homeowners groups continue to argue that many ED1 projects are significantly oversized compared to their surroundings.
Critics also complain that dozens of ED1 projects have no parking spaces at all, putting new pressure on on-street parking — but that’s a problem caused by state law, not the mayor’s speed-up measures.
City leaders are also hearing complaints from another powerful constituency: construction unions, who worry ED1’s developers will turn to cheap, unqualified labor to complete the project.
Pete Rodriguez, vice president of the United Carpenters’ Western Region, said a permanent ED1 bylaw should include provisions that would create “more middle-class jobs,” such as a prevailing wage requirement.
“Los Angeles cannot survive if the critical workforce that builds our homes can’t live here,” Rodriguez said in a statement.
Councilman Tim McCosker, one of the union’s most staunch allies at City Hall, introduced a motion last month to direct city officials to explore ways to ensure workers on the ED1 project receive prevailing wages and possibly health care benefits.
Mayor Bass’ changes don’t address those concerns. In her memo, the mayor said she would “support labor standards and protections” if ED1 becomes permanent law, but she didn’t provide specifics.
That prospect has some YIMBYs worried, who warn that rising labor costs could make many of the ED1 projects unbuildable.
Members of Abundant Housing Los Angeles organized a rally last month to push for making ED1 permanent, and at that rally, they faced some backlash of their own.
Organizers said the rally, held in front of City Hall, was disrupted by resident activists who shouted at the protesters, disrupting the rally and destroying some signs.
current situation
— Running in 2026: Bass took a bold step this week, informing supporters that she will run for a second four-year term in 2026 and announcing that she needs money for her campaign. “We can’t let our momentum slow,” Bass said in a fundraising email.
— Mega-meetings from Hell: As we’ve previously reported, some City Council members have proposed cutting back on the number of times the council meets, from three times a week to once a week.
This week, they got a glimpse of what that might look like.
Tuesday’s meeting, the last before the summer recess, was the only one this week: it had 161 items on the agenda, lasted six and a half hours and necessitated pizza being delivered to the back of the council chambers.
— Blast Payout: Three years after the Los Angeles Police Department bombed a South Los Angeles neighborhood, the City Council agreed to pay more than $21 million to settle legal claims for many of the residents who were forced to evacuate.
— Reform Wizard: The City Council approved the appointment of Robert Stern, a co-author of the state’s political reform law of 1974, to the five-member Ethics Commission. Stern, who also co-authored several of the city’s ethics laws, was appointed by City Council Speaker Paul Krekorian.
— Expanding the size of the board: Los Angeles County Supervisors Lindsay Holbert and Janice Hahn have introduced a proposal to expand the number of members on the Board of Supervisors from five to nine. With a countywide population of 10 million, each supervisor would still serve 1.1 million voters. The supervisors hope to put the proposal on the Nov. 5 ballot.
— In the lurch: The City Council voted to move forward with pre-design work on a $54 million expansion of the convention center to determine whether the renovations can be completed in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics.
— Plan ahead: Fast-food workers often have unpredictable schedules that make it hard to plan around child care, doctor’s appointments and other errands. Now, City Councilman Hugo Soto Martinez is proposing to give workers more stability and consistency in their schedules and require them to accrue paid time off.
— Beat the Heat: It’s going to be hot this weekend! Luckily, there are several cooling centers in and around Los Angeles.
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Quick Hit
Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program to combat homelessness was in the area around Beverly Boulevard and Alvarado Street in the district Soto-Martinez represents.
Coming up next week: Two people convicted in the Jose Huizar corruption scandal, consultant Justin Kim and former lobbyist Molly Goldman, will be sentenced by a federal judge.
keep in touch
That’s it for this week. Please send your questions, comments or feedback to [email protected]. Did a friend forward this to you? Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.