Los Angeles Business Council

The LABC has a long history of advocating for smart growth policies and practices that decrease the negative environmental and economic impacts of urban sprawl. These include an increased housing supply, development of new workforce housing units, and mixed-use development.


Workforce Housing Scorecard for Los Angeles - CLICK HERE	Los Angeles Employer Assisted Housing Handbook - CLICK HERE

Advocacy Efforts

In an Op-Ed by Mary Leslie in the Los Angeles Business Journal, the LABC made the following recommendations (read the entire article). The LABC called on the City to:

Implement SB 1818 as soon as possible. SB 1818 gives developers who build affordable housing – where appropriate – a density bonus and other incentives to offset their costs.

SB1818 requires cities and counties to update their local ordinances to reflect the changes made by the State Legislature three years ago. The law seeks to encourage local governments and developers to build more affordable housing, where appropriate. Developers are allowed to build at a higher density than the zoning permits when affordable units are included. Other incentives may also be given to help offset the developer's costs of including the affordable units.
LA City: http://cityplanning.lacity.org
LA County: http://planning.co.la.ca.us/

Download the ordinance amending Sections 12.22, 12.24, 14.00 and 19.01 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code to implement a Density Bonus program (Members Only)

Download Relevant State Code Information (Section 65915-65918) (Members Only)
Leverage every state and federal dollar possible. Earmark a specific percentage of general fund money for the Housing Trust Fund.
Make operational the $200 million New Generation Fund (NGF) as promised by the end of the first quarter, 2008. Enterprise Community Partners and the City’s partnership will provide predevelopment and acquisition funds to help finance approximately 20,000 rental and homeownership units.
Expand City programs that offer gap financing to low and moderate-income homebuyers to maximize the new market opportunities in the 2008-2009 budget.
Support the creation of a federal employer assisted housing program.
Modify the HUD regulations to adjust the allocation formula from a per capita basis to one proportional to true need. Thus, high cost low-income areas like Los Angeles could receive an allocation proportional to need instead of being unfairly penalized. The same could be done on the state level with the Tax Credit Program.
Support the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act of 2007 that commits to producing, rehabilitating and preserving 1.5 million housing units in the next 10 years.

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