Activists Press Council for Affordable Housing Law

Nearly 200 activists descended on City Hall on Wednesday to implore the Los Angeles City Council to pass an ordinance that would require developers to build more affordable housing for low- and moderate-income residents.

One big problem: The council can’t vote on the ordinance, because it has yet to be introduced.

An affordable housing proposal was backed by Councilmen Ed Reyes, Eric Garcetti and several others last year. More than a dozen hearings were held, but no vote was taken. It was finally rolled back into the legislative barn to be retooled after facing heavy criticism, in part over whether it would increase the housing stock as promised.

Reyes and Garcetti have been on the verge of releasing a revised proposal for weeks, but decided again Wednesday to work to get more of their colleagues to support it.

Undeterred, the activists held a spirited rally and then marched into City Hall to give the council an earful over the vicissitudes of L.A.’s housing market.

“Can any of your children afford to live in the houses you live in?” asked Sister Diane Donoghue, executive director of the nonprofit Esperanza Community Housing Corp.

Chris Gabriel, another activist, asked the council to consider the fact that the working poor deserve to live near their jobs, even if their jobs are in wealthy neighborhoods.

“If you’re for segregation, then you probably want to vote no” on inclusionary zoning, he said sarcastically.

The term “inclusionary zoning,” for requiring affordable housing options, is a deliberate play on the exclusionary practice of using zoning laws to keep apartments and small houses out of certain parts of town -- in other words, separating the rich and the poor through zoning.

Many proponents of inclusionary zoning argue that it is not a cure for the housing crisis but can ensure that at least some affordable homes get built.

The issue has taken on a deeper resonance because of inflated housing prices in the Southland. Los Angeles’ population of nearly 4 million has grown more quickly than its housing supply, and the median price of a home in the city as of April was about $420,000, according to the real estate research firm DataQuick.

There are 118 jurisdictions in California with inclusionary ordinances, which over the last 30 years have produced more than 34,000 housing units for low- and moderate-income people to rent or own, according to the advocacy group Nonprofit Housing Assn. for Northern California.

The law works in very different ways in various locales. The proposal in the works in Los Angeles is complex, offering various formulas for the types of houses, condominiums and apartments that developers would have to set aside.

For example, developers building apartments or homes would typically have to set aside a certain percentage, from 5% to 20%, for people making less than the area median income, which for a family of four in Los Angeles County is currently about $55,000. But the proposal does not yet spell out exactly what the price of a home would be, just that it must be affordable based on a person or family’s income.

Families could remain in the houses even if their income grew. Also, those buying the homes could sell them for whatever price they could fetch, but would have to share the appreciation in price with the city.

Reyes has been adamant that an ordinance be mandatory citywide, but that has become a major sticking point. Much of the haggling behind closed doors in City Hall the last several weeks was over which parts of Los Angeles could be exempt.

“Everyone says we need housing and homes -- but not here in our neighborhood,” Reyes said. “They say we need apartments, but not here. What this is saying is, if not here, where?”

No apartments could be built in single-family-home neighborhoods in Los Angeles, according to the proposal.

Critics of last year’s proposal will probably raise many of the same issues this year. There is the concern, for instance, that such a law could thwart the building of new housing by reducing developers’ profits.

Another worry is that people who buy at market rates would have to pay more, to compensate for the affordable units.

“It’s a hidden tax on the middle class,” said Carol Schatz, president of the Central Cities Assn. of Los Angeles. “Those who are renting or buying homes at market rates are the ones who will pay for this subsidy” by paying more for their homes.

“The consensus of the community I represent boils down to one issue: density,” said Councilman Jack Weiss, whose district includes Encino, Sherman Oaks, Century City and Westwood.

Weiss said he is undecided on the new proposal but can understand the concern of residents already grappling with gridlock and a keen parking deficit.