Gov. Gavin Newsom announced this week that West Hollywood and the County of Los Angeles are among the latest communities to receive California’s Prohousing Designation, an acknowledgement of their strides in accelerating housing production to meet diverse income needs. This brings the total to 47 communities recognized under this initiative statewide.
Established by the 2019-20 Budget Act, the Prohousing Designation rewards cities and counties that align with state housing laws by reducing bureaucratic barriers and lowering construction costs. The designation also supports zoning and sustainable land use practices aimed at expediting housing development.
Newsom emphasized the critical role these communities play in achieving California’s goal to build 2.5 million new homes by 2030, with a focus on affordability for lower-income households.
“At nearly fifty prohousing communities, California is making progress,” Newsom said.
In its application, West Hollywood demonstrated a robust commitment to expanding its housing supply and supporting affordable units. WeHo allows the construction of duplexes and triplexes by right within its R-1 zone in transit-priority, high-resource and highest-resource areas. ‘
Its Affordable Housing Trust Fund aids nonprofit development projects, mandating that 60% of units be affordable to low- and moderate-income households, with at least 20% allocated to low-income households. The city also waives fees for projects in high-resource areas where more than 25% of units are affordable, and for developments owned or occupied by nonprofit organizations. In fiscal year 2023, West Hollywood allocated $2.9 million from its general fund to support a rental inclusionary housing program that comprises 17,175 units citywide.
The County of Los Angeles has also made substantial efforts to enhance its housing capacity and streamline the approval process for housing projects. The county has improved permit processing for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and affordable housing, employing dedicated staff for expedited reviews. Affordable housing projects can now obtain an administrative housing permit within 90 days. Additionally, the county has appointed three full-time ADU coordinators, offers fee reductions for affordable housing, waives fees for completely affordable projects and scales down fees for projects with a portion of income-restricted units. Since a $20 million funding commitment in 2016 to support affordable housing initiatives, L.A. County has increased its annual funding to $100 million to bolster long-term housing solutions for its most vulnerable populations.
The designated cities and counties, including West Hollywood and Los Angeles County, receive incentives such as access to prohousing grants and favorable scoring in competitive state funding programs, managed by the Department of Housing and Community Development.
Who was asking why WeHo is short on budget in other article. $2.9 the City Pays for low income affordable housing rent? The point to the over mega development across was all about THE DEVELOPERS to pay for a certain number of low income housings in exchange for the Developer to build bigger, taller, less setbacks and more square than the current FIXED ZONING laws would otherwise prohibit. Why is City paying what is the price and excuse as to why the city pushes all these mega projects. Not for the City Budget paying the for profit developers choice to… Read more »
This is precisely what is wrong with politics and government. They create complex bureaucracies, then invite agencies and municipalities to go through laborious and expensive application processes to tear down the inefficiencies that they created in the first place. It’s akin to politicians who tout their constituent services staffs; how about fixing the damned systems that are broken? But alas, that would rob them of the savior narrative of constituent services.
I am a free-market, old-school, common-sense, pragmatic progressive. Yes, it’s a thing. They are my intersectionalities.
There is no housing shortage. But there is a glut of freeloaders who don’t feel like paying their fair way through life, who also have a desire to live in one of the most expensive zip codes in the entire USA. There are lots of fair market rate apartments available to rent right away, in West Hollywood, and everywhere else. But not at freeloader prices. My suggestion to people who can’t afford Bel Air, Beverly Hills or West Hollywood is to take a look in Barstow or Blythe, where there are also lots of apartments available to rent right away,… Read more »
There is really no need to be demeaning to people. You may have a different perspective from other people but being arrogant and condescending is not a winning strategy. There is absolutely nothing wrong with creating housing that is affordable for people as long as it’s built in a responsible way. Not everyone was born a princess like you. I personally prefer a West Hollywood that includes people of all income brackets not just rich people. The business community also benefits a from diverse community.
It’s demeaning to say people pay their fair share? I love the argument made by the freeloading community that somehow having “diverse” neighbors benefits someone. Trust me, it doesn’t. Rich people want to live amongst other rich people, and poorer people want to live amongst rich people. There is something very wrong with creating “affordable” housing, as clearly some will get it, and some will not. It is inherently unfair. Especially to those not getting in on that gravy train. Are you on the gravy train?
What is their fair share? Please enlighten me. I pay north of $55,000 in annual residential property taxes in WEHO. Am I paying my “fair share” or am I also a freeloader? To be honest, I live amongst plenty of “rich people”. I prefer to live around people of all income brackets. Why are only rich people entitled to live in West Hollywood? That’s not the West Hollywood I know and I have lived in WEHO for more than 30 years.
So are they getting awards for all the newly built but empty and half finished condos that have been under construction since roughly 2018?
Congratulations WeHo!