State says LA isn’t building enough housing—along with 525 other California cities

Source: Curbed

Cities that don’t meet their goals will need to approve projects more quickly

The vast majority of urban areas in the California—including Los Angeles—are failing to approve enough housing, a report released this week by the state Department of Housing and Community Development shows.

As a result, the state will now require those cities to make it a little easier for developers to construct projects that include affordable units.

For a more than four decades, cities and municipalities across the state have been required to set housing goals every five to eight years in order to ensure that construction of new homes keeps up with population growth.

As the HCD’s report shows, almost none of them are actually meeting those goals.

In all, only 13 cities made “sufficient progress” toward hitting their targets last year. A few of them—including West Hollywood, San Fernando, and Beverly Hills—are in Southern California (though Beverly Hills had to permit just three homes to meet its goals).

The 526 cities that came up short will be required to speed up approval of certain new developments, thanks to a new state law that went into effect January 1.

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