Housing Over Parking Lots Proposed : Shelter: Nonprofit groups would develop and operate low-cost units above city-owned parking lots under a plan suggested by Mayor Tom Bradley.

Seeking to ease a shortage of affordable shelter, Mayor Tom Bradley on Tuesday proposed using airspace over some of the 105 city-owned parking lots to build low-cost housing projects.

In a pilot program proposed for 10 of the lots, the city would lease the space free of charge to nonprofit organizations, which would act as developers and operators of the projects.

The parking spots would remain, but low-cost housing for senior citizens, low-wage working families and the disabled would be constructed overhead.

“Affordable housing remains a critical issue for far too many residents in the city,” Bradley said. “I believe this program has the potential to significantly increase our stock of affordable housing.”

The proposal must still receive the approval of the City Council, and on Tuesday there appeared to be strong support from at least two key council members, who appeared with the mayor to offer their support for the initiative.

“This is an excellent use of public property,” Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky said. “We’ll be twice as well off” with the twin uses, he said.

“It’s a creative solution to our housing crisis,” Councilman Richard Alatorre said. “It’s a win-win solution.”

A similar concept already has been tried with some success by the city.

One city-owned lot in the 1400 block of Wooster Street on the Westside was leased in 1987 to a private developer who constructed a 41-unit, government-subsidized senior citizens complex in conjunction with the Jewish Federation Council and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A similar project is planned for a city-owned parking site one block away.

But federal assistance for such projects is drying up.

So, in an attempt to fill the gap and expand the use of an under-utilized city resource, Bradley is proposing that the city encourage nonprofit groups to develop and operate such projects by giving them a free, long-term land lease and by helping with some construction financing through the city’s Community Development Department and the Community Redevelopment Agency.

The free land could reduce the total cost of a project by 15% to 25%, Bradley said. And that would enable operators to pass the savings along to needy tenants.

Under Bradley’s proposal, teams of architects, parking lot operators and nonprofit agencies would be formed for each of 10 initial sites. Each team would then work with community groups in formulating a development plan.

If the pilot programs are successful, Bradley said, similar development could be rolled out to most of the remaining 95 city-owned lots. Each project could support from 12 to 40 housing units, he said.

One advocate of the program, Arnold Stalk of L.A. Family Housing Corp., said there are many suitable parking lots in “some great neighborhoods . . . Echo Park, Highland Park and the Valley.”

Housing advocates said there probably will be plenty of nonprofit groups applying to develop projects. Earlier this year, housing activists founded the Southern California Assn. of Nonprofit Housing, to unite and support groups developing low-cost and subsidized housing. More than 400 people attended a convention the group held in July.