A Commonsense Approach to Our Housing Crisis
Washington Blvd. Before and After
By Josh Morgerman
If you’re an Angeleno like me, you’re frustrated with the current state of affairs here: the cost of living, the skyrocketing rents, the widespread homelessness, the traffic,… The list goes on.
And it’s all kind of mystifying. I mean, there’s no shortage of wealth here. And we Californians aren’t stingy. We diligently vote to pay more taxes to generate massive funding to solve our housing crisis. And Lord knows, there’s no shortage of creativity in this state.
And yet: the problems don’t get solved. It’s like we’re paralyzed.
We all have our opinions about what’s causing our housing crisis. I fervently believe it’s a supply issue. We’re not building enough housing fast enough, cheap enough. Sure, sure, there are other factors—but the root of the housing crisis is we don’t have enough housing in Metro L.A. If we did, rents would go down, more folks would live right in the city (cutting commuter traffic), and homelessness would decrease. (For as many as 2/3 of unhoused Angelenos, it’s an economic issue, not mental illness or substance use.)
Sound like some crazy utopian fantasy?
Um, no.
It’s how many other cities—especially in Europe—already do things.
We believe we can’t have abundant housing and less traffic in L.A. because we’ve trained ourselves to think this way—to expect less. This thinking is foolish.
We can have nice things, too.
That’s why I joined the Livable Communities Initiative—“LCI” for short.
We know a better L.A. is possible. And we’re taking a commonsense, move-fast, get-to-the-point approach to solving our housing crisis.
At the heart of our plan: change the zoning laws in Metro L.A. to allow gentle density along major commercial corridors. I say “gentle density” because we’re not talking gross high-rises—we’re talking charming, tree-lined neighborhoods with 3-5-story buildings. Imagine shops, cafes, and restaurants on the ground floor, and apartments above that—ones ordinary working folks can afford. Imagine bike lanes and easy access to fast transit if you need to go farther. Imagine communities where folks can live, play, and work.
How are we going to do this? How are we going to build such communities quickly and cheaply?
The secret ingredient to our plan: doing away with parking minimums along designated commercial corridors.
Parking takes a lot of space, so parking minimums add tremendously to the cost of building—and this drives up rents. Also, parking minimums prevent building on small lots—so only big developers can get into the game.
By removing parking minimums, we’ll enable local developers to build small buildings with affordable units on narrow lots. We’ll smash the monopoly of big developers. We’ll empower thousands of “mom and pop” builders to participate in the solution—and radically increase our housing supply.
Think that sounds like a crazy idea for L.A.?
Think again.
You might have a car, but there are many, many Angelenos who don’t—either because they can’t afford it or they just don’t want it. These folks have a right to nice housing—and they have a right to not subsidize parking for folks who choose to have cars.
Removing parking minimums is one big way we want to bring change. But it’s not the only one. We also want to streamline bureaucratic processes, remove red tape, scrap antiquated regulations, and remove onerous costs. Many things are keeping us from building, and we need to fix them all at once.
Anyhow, I’m just boiling it all down here. Of course, there’s a lot more to it.
And there are many other viewpoints behind the Livable Communities Initiative. While we’re united by our desire to solve L.A.’s housing crisis, we’re a diverse bunch coming at this from many angles. This blog space will be a microphone for all these voices—not just mine.
In the meantime…
Check out our Website. And if you want to really dive into the policy weeds, you’ll dig our white paper.
Want to join our movement or find out more? Reach out to us.
No more putzing around. No more running in circles.
Let’s do this.