Start Here If You Care About Housing Affordability In The March 2024 Election

Decide where you stand

You won’t hear anyone disputing that L.A. has a housing affordability crisis, or that we need to “cut red tape” to fix it. But candidates tend to show their differences when it comes to actual housing proposals in their districts, or specific measures to address the crisis. Ask yourself a few questions to see if a candidate’s approach matches yours:

• Do you support more housing being built in your neighborhood? 
  
  • How much, and what kind? Market-rate condos? Apartments for very low-income tenants? All of the above and everything in between? 
• If there’s a specific housing project being proposed near you, how do you feel about it?
  
• What do you think are the main reasons for the housing affordability crisis? This can get in the weeds pretty fast, but generally:
  
  • Candidates who say it’s mainly a supply problem focus on finding ways to build more housing, such as fast-tracking approvals for certain types of housing, changing the zoning code to allow developers to build more housing in a given area, or making better use of vacant land and empty buildings. 
  • Those who say it’s largely a lack of tenant protections problem emphasize expanded rent control, vacancy taxes on units that stay empty for long periods of time, or more protections against evictions. 
  • Plenty of candidates support combinations of these measures, but knowing what they think is the main source of the problem will give you a better understanding of their approach.

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If you’re new to housing policy, start with this explainer.

The offices that matter most on the 2024 ballot

The Board of Supervisors and City Council have the most direct impact on housing affordability in your neighborhood. They’re particularly powerful in deciding how land is used. Most of the time, a major housing development will need a city council member to sign off before the project moves ahead. These officials can also approve new rules that can determine how much housing is allowed to be built in any given area. This past year, the L.A. City Council passed two plans that allow up to 135,000 additional housing units in downtown L.A. and Hollywood over the next two decades. County and city elected officials also vote on rent stabilization ordinances that limit how much landlords can raise rents every year.

These decisions won’t just affect your neighborhood, but they’ll also have ripple effects on surrounding neighborhoods and general housing affordability across L.A.

Your State Assemblymember and State Senator set the rules for what cities can and can’t do on housing. For instance, the California legislature passed a law in 2023 that allowed for new housing to be fast-tracked if it was built on church-owned land — something that religious groups couldn’t ordinarily do because cities and counties wouldn’t change local zoning laws. In 2017, it also cut restrictions on building accessory dwelling units (ADUs) — also known as converted garages or standalone living units on the same lot as the main house. After that law passed, ADU construction skyrocketed in L.A. and across the entire state.