Housing Advocates Sue City Of LA For Stalling Affordable Housing Near Single-Family Homes

A California pro-housing group has filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles over decisions to stall new affordable housing near single-family neighborhoods.

The lawsuit seeks to accelerate a developer’s plans to build 360 apartments for renters with low and moderate incomes along a stretch of Winnetka Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley.

The developer filed an application in early 2023 asking for approval of this project under Executive Directive 1 (ED1), the signature housing policy Mayor Karen Bass enacted during her first week in office. The project was later denied fast tracking after Bass changed the rules to forbid ED1 projects near single-family homes.

In the legal complaint filed Tuesday in L.A. County Superior Court, attorneys for the nonprofit YIMBY Law argue the case shows why L.A.’s housing crisis is worsening. They say city officials are ignoring state legislation and caving to political pressure from NIMBY, or Not In My Backyard, voices.

“The city continues to block needed housing projects in violation of state laws, as well as its own emergency declarations and departmental guidelines,” the complaint states.

LAist called and emailed the mayor’s office for comment on the lawsuit, but has not yet received a response.

City pumps brakes on fast-tracking affordable homes

ED1 was designed to speed up L.A.’s notoriously slow process for greenlighting new low-income housing. Bass said her administration would approve applications for 100% affordable housing projects within 60 days and issue building permits within five days.

But in June, six months after signing ED1, Bass changed the rules to deny fast-tracking for any project located near single-family homes. Dozens of projects away from single-family homes have since moved forward in renter-heavy parts of the city such as South L.A. But nine projects proposing to bring more than 1,400 income-restricted apartments to the San Fernando Valley were left in limbo as a result.

YIMBY Law executive director Sonja Trauss said the Bass administration “went back on their own policy. They changed the rules in the middle of the game.”

LAist recently covered the Winnetka project and the backlash it has received from some homeowners. The lawsuit claims the project’s developer “locked in” their right to ED1 processing at the time of application. It argues that under the state’s Housing Crisis Act and Housing Accountability Act, the city cannot deny fast-tracking based on a retroactive rule change.

What happens when housing advocates ‘sue the suburbs’

The lawsuit seeks an injunction forcing the city to process the Winnetka project application based on the original rules. State housing officials have already weighed in, telling L.A. that projects should “proceed under the ED1 regulations that were in effect at the time the preliminary application was complete.”

Oakland-based YIMBY Law, whose motto is “sue the suburbs,” has prevailed in previous legal action against SoCal cities. The group’s litigation has recently pushed the Burbank City Council to rescind a denial for new townhomes on the site of a former bowling alley, and has forced Simi Valley’s city council to approve a 108-unit senior living facility.

Trauss, YIMBY Law’s director, hopes the short-term result of the new lawsuit will be to force L.A. to approve the 360-unit Winnetka project. But she said over the long-term, her group wants to change homeowners’ minds about low-income housing.

“We want people to get used to the idea of 100% affordable housing in single-family zones,” Trauss said. Building this kind of housing in wealthier areas should not be seen as politically untenable, she added. “One of the ways to challenge that is for it to actually happen, and then for people to be like, ‘It’s not that bad. It’s just an apartment building, and my life went on.’”

What parts of the city might be affected?

Using information from L.A.’s Planning Department, LAist mapped projects throughout the city that were denied faster approvals under ED1 because of their proximity to single-family homes.

Some of the plans have since been withdrawn by developers. One project is moving forward in Sherman Oaks due to support from Councilmember Nithya Raman, who represents the district. Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who represents the district containing the Winnetka project and other stalled ED1 proposals, opposes fast-tracking affordable housing in these neighborhoods.