L.A.'s $5 Billion Housing Plan

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled a $5 billion housing plan that calls for the building of 20,000 affordable housing units in his city.

“This city’s economic success and vitality depend on our ability to plan for a future of sustainability and stability in our housing market,” Villaraigosa said in a written statement. “This plan lays the building blocks of housing our middle class can afford and takes the first steps toward building ‘housing that works’ for all Angelenos.”

The five-year plan calls for the city to leverage $1 billion in public funds into a $5 billion investment in affordable housing. The effort builds on a $700 million investment from Enterprise Community Partners. Using the funding from this capital campaign, the plan pledges to build and preserve 20,000 affordable homes. The plan includes implementing a mixed-income housing ordinance that requires the city’s largest developers to offer units at prices that the city’s workforce can afford.

The “Housing That Works” initiative will also create 20 sustainable transit communities focusing new development along public transit corridors and close to job centers.

The plan also attempts to address homelessness and the foreclosure crisis. Villaraigosa said the initiative funds 2,200 permanent supportive housing units – where homeless men and women are connected to social services – and expands Sec. 8 voucher programs for the chronically homeless. The proposal also aims to preserve the affordability of 14,000 rental units and educate residents about their rights as landlords and tenants.