The Plan to House LA

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The Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) is the California State-required process that seeks to ensure cities and counties plan for enough housing in their Housing Element cycle to accommodate all economic segments of the community. The process recognizes scarcity of land with adequately zoned capacity for housing is a significant contributor to increased land prices and housing development costs. A lack of adequately zoned sites exacerbates the already significant deficit of housing affordable to lower income households.

In accordance with SCAG’s RHNA Allocation Plan, adopted in March 2020, the City’s 2021-2029 Housing Element must accommodate a total of 456,643 units, of which 184,721 units must be affordable to lower income households (Very Low and Low). To ensure that sufficient capacity exists in the Housing Element to accommodate the RHNA throughout the planning period, the draft plan sets a target capacity (or buffer) that is 10% higher than the RHNA for lower income units, and 15% higher than the RHNA for moderate income units. This results in a target capacity for the Adequate Sites Inventory and Rezoning Program of 486,379 units.

The Inventory of Adequate Sites for Housing presents an listing of land suitable and available for residential development to meet the City’s RHNA Allocation at all income levels pursuant to state law. The sites must demonstrate realistic zoning capacity and site availability, reflecting the number of housing units that are anticipated to be built on each during the eight-year Housing Element planning period. Please note, this is different from a maximum buildout calculation, which would assume all sites will redevelop with the maximum allowable number of housing units. 

For the 6th Housing Element cycle, state law regulating how sites are selected has changed significantly. A rigorous analysis of a variety of factors -- including existing uses, market conditions, past development trends -- is required for non-vacant sites to demonstrate the realistic likelihood of development and expected capacities. Due to these requirements, the City developed an econometric approach for estimating realistic development potential based on the City’s past experience, as reflected in building permit data. This methodology was built in partnership with the Terner Center for Housing Innovation (UC Berkeley) and MetroSight (more information can be found in  Chapter 4 ).

According to the analysis of Adequate Sites above, there are insufficient sites to accommodate the City’s RHNA allocation of 456,643 units with a shortfall of 130,543 units for lower-income households, 72,993 units for moderate-income households, and 51,880 units for above-moderate income households. This results in the need for a Rezoning Program and identification of candidate sites for rezoning in order to accommodate the total rezoning need of 255,415 units. The Rezoning Program can be found in  Chapter 6  (Program 121), and the Inventory of Candidate Sites Inventory for rezoning (Candidate Sites for Rezoning) provided in Appendix 4.7.

Key elements of the Rezoning Program have been informed by public input and City Council direction, as well as the results of the AFFH analysis of existing Adequate Sites in Chapter 4. In general, the program emphasizes increasing access to Higher Opportunity areas of the city, particularly near jobs and transit and along major corridors, while protecting socially and environmentally sensitive areas such as fire zones and areas susceptible to sea level rise. The Program also emphasizes the continued development of innovative “value capture” strategies to deliver more affordable housing, stronger anti-displacement protections and other community benefits. 

The Candidate Sites Inventory identifies potential sites for future rezoning along with state-required information on each of the properties, including the realistic number of housing units that can be accommodated on each site using state criteria. Qualifying sites were also removed due to low likelihood of development or net capacities based on a set of assumptions described in  Chapter 4 . Because many different strategies and work efforts are planned as a part of the Rezoning Program, the various components are broken out into unique rezoning strategies that are presented below (and further described in  Chapter 4 ).

Each strategy below includes an abbreviated identifier in parenthesis next to the title (e.g. OPP RC for Residential Opportunity Corridor).

It is important to note that the Inventory of Candidate Sites for Rezoning lists many more sites and potential units than are necessary to satisfy the RHNA requirements. This expansive approach is purposeful to allow the flexibility for future refinement of the rezoning strategies and sites. As such, sites included on the list should be considered as potential sites for rezoning consideration, not a final list of sites that will be rezoned. Other sites may be added, and listed sites may be removed or amended. A public review process will help guide future recommendations as to which sites are rezoned at which densities but should follow the Housing Element’s objective of an equitable rezoning program that furthers fair housing goals. 

The City has three years to complete required rezonings and many of the rezoning programs are only now being initiated and developed and will be refined through a community engagement process. As such, important details such as densities, location, development standards and affordable housing requirements are being estimated based on reasonable assumptions made at the time. 

The interactive map below includes the potential candidate sites for rezoning identified in Appendix 4.7. The map shows all rezoning strategies by default. To view colors associated with each strategy, select the upper icon to the left of the legend. You can turn on and off different strategies by selecting the lower icon to the left of the legend ("toggle layer list") and then selecting the eye icon next to each rezoning concept. The arrow symbol next to each concept can also be selected to show a drop down of the specific strategies in each concept. Selecting the eye icon next to each layer also enables you to add other layers to the map, including Community Plan Boundaries, Neighborhood Council Boundaries, Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone Areas, Sea Level Rise Area, and TCAC/HCD Opportunity Areas.

Within the map, you can select a specific parcel or search by address. Upon selecting a parcel, a pop-up will appear showing the Address, Assessor Parcel Number (APN), Potential Rezoning Programs, Realistic Capacity and if the parcel is subject to the Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO).

The realistic capacity figures associated with each site and strategy are based on unique criteria in state Housing Element law and represent the potential rezoned density on a site after it has been adjusted for likelihood of development and likely build-out. Sites were also removed due to low likelihood of development or net capacities based on a set of assumptions described in  Chapter 4 .

It is important to note that the Inventory of Candidate Sites for Rezoning lists many more sites and potential units than are necessary to satisfy the RHNA requirements. Sites included on the list should be considered as potential sites for rezoning consideration, not a final list of sites that will be rezoned. Other sites may be added, and listed sites may be removed or amended. A public review process will help guide future recommendations as to which sites are rezoned at which densities but should follow the Housing Element’s objective of an equitable rezoning program that furthers fair housing goals. 

If you have comments or concerns please fill out the feedback form below. This information will be used to help inform the rezoning program as it is implemented over the next three years. The rezoning program will continue to be refined through a public review process and is subject to change based on feedback received.