Behind the LA zoning commission recommendation to leave 72% of city zoned for single-family homes

The Los Angeles City Planning Commission voted Thursday to steer new housing construction away from the nearly three-quarters of residential land in the city reserved for single-family homes.

The decision represents a key step toward completing a massive rezoning effort required under state law. L.A. is running low on time to come up with plans for where to put more than 450,000 new homes over the next five years. Because the city’s current zoning can’t handle all that growth, city planners have been working on ideas for achieving that goal.

In simple terms, the proposal approved by the Planning Commission this week includes new incentives for developers to build taller, denser buildings in neighborhoods that already allow for apartments. Developers will have to keep some of those units affordable to low-income renters. Low-slung single-family neighborhoods will remain largely untouched.

Apartments not allowed in 72% of LA neighborhoods 

A map created by UC Berkeley researchers shows the L.A. neighborhoods zoned for single-family homes, highlighted in pink. Their calculation adds up to 74% while the city says it's 72%.

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UC Berkeley Othering and Belonging Institute

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The unanimous decision was welcome news for homeowner groups that have fought to keep denser forms of housing outside of the 72% of L.A.’s residential land currently zoned for single-family homes. However, the vote was disappointing to housing advocates who’ve argued that L.A. cannot confront its affordability problems without adding more homes across the city.

During the nearly eight-hour meeting, most public speakers voiced support for increasing density in single-family neighborhoods. Frequent themes included the racist origins of single-family zoning, the city’s unaffordable rents and the lack of family-sized housing available to young parents.

Emily Ramirez, a senior associate with the Southern California Association of Nonprofit Housing, said she experienced homelessness while completing her undergraduate studies at Cal State Los Angeles in 2019.

“I could not afford housing even though I worked 30 hours a week while completing a full-time degree,” Ramirez said. “I’m here in City Hall, giving my first ever public comment, because I believe we have an opportunity to create a different future where the youth of L.A. tell a different story when they grow up.”

Homeowners and housing advocates debate city’s future 

Scott Epstein, policy and research director for Abundant Housing L.A., urged the commission to side with what he described as a broad alliance supporting more housing in single-family zones.

“You’re hearing this from climate and mobility orgs, housing justice organizations, tenant rights advocates, homeless service providers, affordable housing developers, faith-based organizations,” Epstein said. “Literally the entire civil sector of Los Angeles is saying we cannot move forward to deliver the housing units we need, we cannot reverse patterns of segregation, we cannot stem displacement if we take single-family zones completely off the table.”

But some homeowners who spoke to the commissioners asked them to stick with plans to channel housing growth away from single-family neighborhoods.

Tracy Thrower Conyers, a homeowner in Westchester, said allowing apartment buildings in single-family zones would mean “our retirement nest eggs will be at risk of plummeting in value as we become surrounded by high rises with no parking.”

Conyers said: “Do we really have to steal from one group to give it to another to meet our fairness and construction goals? The planning department's own report says no.”

Where things go from here 

The city’s planning staff presented the commission with options that would have given developers incentives to build affordable and mixed-income housing in higher-resource neighborhoods zoned for single family homes. However, those alternatives were rejected.

Now, the rezoning proposal will go to the full City Council, which must finalize the plans by Feb. 12 in order to comply with state-mandated timelines.