APPROVED BY CITY COUNCIL - TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2021  

The City of Los Angeles is currently facing a housing crisis unlike any it has ever faced in its history. This crisis has created a city where people are struggling to pay rent or risk ending up on the street. In order to combat this crisis, the city must do everything in its power to make the construction of new affordable housing as quick and least expensive as possible. 

 

An essential part of dealing with this challenge is simplifying and expediting the city post entitlement permitting and implementation process. The city has done this for other large initiatives such as the Master Cooperative Agreement (MCA) with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) which creates a special permitting process for all Metro projects. The MCA stipulates review periods for all Metro plan submittals to the city and ensures that Metro projects are constructed in a timely manner. The city must establish a similar process for housing projects that create affordable housing within the city. 

 

I THEREFORE MOVE that the Department of Building & Safety, in coordination with the Department of City Planning, Housing & Community Investment Department, Department of Public Works, Department of Transportation, and Department of Water & Power, and Los Angeles Fire Department, be instructed to develop an expedited permitting process that establishes a maximum review per submittal time of 15 business days for projects that build the most amount of permanent supportive housing and affordable housing; and, 

 

I FURTHER MOVE that this streamlined process should look at establishing a tiered structure of expediting projects based upon a value and volume system that prioritizes the construction of the largest amount of permanent supportive housing or affordable housing units that takes into account project complexity and scale. 

 

I FURTHER MOVE that the aforementioned departments report back with a proposed sliding scale for review times, the technological and staffing resource needs, as well as. any potential revenue sources needed to implement this system. 

 

I FURTHER MOVE that the aforementioned departments be instructed to form a central coordination hub for expediting homeless and afford housing. 

 

I FURTHER MOVE that the aforementioned departments report back on any ordinance changes needed to implement the proposed expediting process and central coordination hub.