News

Opening soon, the new development provides needed housing for the neighborhood. The first major new development to open, will current residents embrace their new neighbors?

Compounding the lack of affordable housing in the area is the most extensive new development. City Lights, from Chandler Partners and designed by VTBS Architects. With a whopping 202 residential units, the project is massive, taking up an entire block formerly occupied by an Autozone and its parking lots. However, there does not seem to be an allowance for affordable units as part of the massive build. Given the litigation and community uproar about other projects, it seems an apparent oversight here. If City Lights matched even the total from the nearby Los Feliz Select, that would mean an additional 20 dwelling units in a prime transit and retail corridor for low-income residents. The multiplier on such an investment would surely pay for itself. Studies show that the effect is dramatic. For each dollar spent on affordable housing, over $24 is created in economic activity. Even in an already relatively affluent area, such an impact cannot be discounted.

Nor should the developer worry about high market rate vacancies in their projects in the area. Across the Los Angeles MSA, rental vacancies are under four percent in the third quarter of 2020. In an active and growing area like Los Feliz, the rates will be even lower. Thus, those market-rate units can easily subsidize affordable units, even before tax incentives and other benefits apply.

Chandler was required to pay into the Parks First Trust as a condition of entitlement approval and was initially required to add a pedestrian accessway across the property, based on its existence in the property's previous incarnation. However, the developers successfully appealed that determination after conducting additional surveys on the block's full length, and a corrected determination letter was issued.

Set within the Vermont/Western Specific Plan, the project meets density requirements for the specific parcels' area and zoning. The R3 zone specifically allows 60 dwelling units on one parcel, so the designers created a plan with precisely 60 units. The other portion of the building is under R4, which allows 146 units, and the plan called for 142. The designer and developer met their unit goal by taking special care and attention to the regulations and working creatively to meet the standards.

Some worry that the community that it will lose its charm, becoming just another cookie-cutter mid-rise wasteland. Chandler Partners did at least, seek feedback from the community during its design process to alleviate some of those concerns. Still, at completion City Lights will have nearly 15,000 square feet of retail on the first floor along with almost 400 parking spaces for only 202 residential units.

Two spaces for every unit seems excessive, considering the Vermont/Sunset Red Line station's proximity and multiple bus routes converging through the area. Combined with the removal of pedestrian access across the new building, the excessive supply of parking runs counter to what the community should seek to build. A genuinely transit-oriented development should do more to encourage transit usage while maximizing their buildable area for people, not cars.

Los Angeles faces a homelessness crisis of dire and historic proportions. The number of people experiencing homelessness rose over 60% in the last five years, and in some districts has increased over 70%! A humanitarian catastrophe of this scale must be addressed with all available resources and may require finding ways to use assets that are seemingly unavailable.

More and more people find themselves unable to meet rent, and suddenly on the street. Most residents see the proliferation of tent encampments, which serves to highlight the issue, but that symptom only scratches the surface of the underlying problems. Rents have skyrocketed while low-income supports have plummeted. Rent controls have loosened and at-risk populations have been leaving in droves. New housing is created for luxury markets, with only cursory attention paid to affordable units.

Currently, the city government provides needed and admirable emergency services to people experiencing homelessness, but spot services and disaster assistance cannot cure the problem.

The normally trite and weary metaphor about symptoms and disease is unfortunately especially apt during this unprecedented time.

Community programs within the city, encouraging local leadership and involvement, can lay the groundwork and be valuable partners in creating comprehensive programs. The appetite is there, residents are eager to help, we just need to provide the outlets.

Expanding current programs like Home for Good to focus on root causes in addition to supporting long-term homeless residents can start today. When working on housing the most at-risk of the population, we can add on supplemental health services, training, and long-term support systems. Let’s make putting a roof over their heads the least consequential part of the process.

There are simple things we can do today to help our community’s most at-risk members. The political will is catching up to the severity of the crisis, but while we wait, we can take the first steps on our own.