Housing Package Is Sent to Council

A watershed package of legislation to create affordable housing and bring badly lagging Los Angeles up to par with efforts in other cities was recommended Friday by City Councilman Robert Farrell and sent to the council for consideration next week.

The package was hailed Friday by Farrell, chairman of the council’s Grants and Housing Committee, and by several city officials, Legal Aid attorneys and others as a major step forward in tackling the city’s long-neglected housing affordability crisis, which is among the worst in the nation.

Among the items to be considered Tuesday by the council are a $2.50-per-square-foot fee to be paid by commercial developers into a housing fund and the creation of a municipal housing corporation to attract public and private investment in affordable housing. In addition, the plan calls for technical and financial assistance to help nonprofit developers build low-rent housing, and strengthening of a rule that 15% of new housing be affordable.

‘Step Over Bodies’

“You’re not going to have a strong economic city when people come to work in the morning and have to step over bodies sleeping on the sidewalks,” warned Sydney Irmas, a business executive and chairman of Mayor Tom Bradley’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Affordable Housing. He said he was “just thrilled that we have finally moved this plan ahead,” but he faulted Bradley for his lack of interest in the legislation.

According to city studies, Los Angeles is increasingly a city of renters, who make up 60% of all households. About 300,000 families live in rental housing that is considered unaffordable under federal government guidelines, with the poorest residents paying more than 60% of their income to rent and new apartments typically renting for $900 per month.

Increasing Concern

Irmas’ committee of developers, bankers, public interest attorneys, poverty advocates and housing experts unveiled the package last December amid increasing concern over the city’s failure to embrace programs for creating affordable housing such as those adopted several years ago in Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Chicago and elsewhere.

Farrell’s committee on Friday concluded a series of hearings on many of the proposals. How much the programs will cost the city, and how many new units of housing they will generate, has yet to be determined.

One of the most effective, and probably most controversial, aspects is the fee charged to big developers. Fees of $5 to $6 a square foot and more have been paid for many years in Boston, San Francisco and other cities despite opposition from developers, who argued that the fees would drive away development.

Those fears have proved to be unfounded, according to subsequent studies in those cities, and the fees have paid for many thousands of units of low-cost rental housing priced below $450 a month.

Michael Bodaken, an attorney for the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, who hammered out the $2.50-per-square-foot compromise with developers, joined Irmas and Farrell in pointing out that the Los Angeles fee could rise to the $5 to $6 level of other cities if it is justified by a study to be undertaken this year.

The report, known as a nexus study, will determine how much affordable housing demand is created each time a developer erects a new commercial building that attracts workers, who in turn must find housing. Permanent fees will be set based on the study.

‘We Feel Very Good’

“Developers wanted us to study this question for the next 10 years or so,” Bodaken said of the closed-door negotiations, “so we feel very good that we got an interim fee of $2.50 that will take effect this fall, and could very likely be raised soon after that.”

George Mihlsten, an attorney who represented developers in the negotiations, said some developers are awaiting the outcome of the study before deciding how they stand on the fee. He said developers he represents believe that if the study shows that commercial growth creates a need for low-cost housing “it may be appropriate to share in alleviating that burden.”

Despite the warm reception for the proposals, Irmas and Bodaken lamented the lack of involvement by Bradley, who last December announced his Blue Ribbon Committee’s proposals after committee members spent a year traveling to other cities and researching successful programs. At that time, Bradley called the housing crisis “so wide it threatens to change the character of the city.”

Bradley Criticized

But since then, Irmas said Friday, he has been unable to persuade Bradley to lobby for support of the proposals among council members or members of the business sector. Irmas said he has also failed to persuade Bradley to use his influence to find a top-level corporate executive to oversee the proposed municipal housing corporation.

“I can’t get the mayor to say boo and I don’t know why,” said Irmas, a Bradley ally who has increasingly taken his disappointment over Bradley public. “I am frustrated over the lack of movement on the part of the mayor, who could have been absolutely pivotal in getting this off the ground. I’ve said it before, that he should be out front leading this thing, and he is not.”

Deputy Mayor Mike Gage disagreed with Irmas’ assessment, saying: “He must not be aware of what the mayor has done. (Bradley) has in fact talked to some key executives about getting involved . . . and it will become apparent when we announce who (the head of the housing corporation) will be.”

‘We Have Been Very Involved’

Gage said Bradley’s staff met with Farrell to resolve potentially troublesome issues before Friday’s committee meeting “and that’s why this thing went through committee without controversy. We have been very involved, but I understand Sydney’s frustration that government doesn’t move as fast as the private sector.”

Whatever Bradley’s past involvement, it is up to the council to consider the package now, and Bodaken said that the potentially far-reaching proposals will need “tremendous community support in council chambers on Tuesday” in order to survive intact.