SCANPH report finds that the City of Los Angeles' Affordable Housing Stock drops to new lows

A new report by the Southern California Association for Non-Profit Housing (SCANPH) will show that the City of Los Angeles is losing ground in trying to keep up with the affordable housing it needs to fill existing demand and population growth. According to the Housing Element guidelines, the city needs to produce over 4,000 units of affordable housing yearly. That equals 20,300 units between 2001-2006. SCANPH’s analysis of the affordable housing stock reveals two disturbing trends. Not only is the city producing less than 2/3 of the units needed to meet projected demand; but, the increasing removal of Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO) units from condominium conversions and demolitions offsets any modest gains made. Due to these losses, the city has only gained less than 10% of the affordable housing units it needs to keep pace. Since 2001, the city has lost over 11,000 housing units, close to the total amount produced during the same period. Surprisingly, half of the units lost are within two City Council Districts. District 2 lost 1,072 units while only adding 235 units. And, District 11 lost over 4,000 units while adding less than 80 units to its affordable housing stock. While the city’s population grew by 3.9%, the number of new housing units built increased by about 0.8%. This shortfall in housing forces more and more L.A. renters into a “housing squeeze.” To continue to live in the city, many renters need to spend an increasingly higher portion of their household income towards housing costs. In the last five years, the number of rental households paying more than 30% of their income on rent increased by 12.2%, adding to the growing numbers of families finding it more and more difficult to afford housing in L.A. The combination of insufficient production of enough new housing to meet growth and the growing loss of affordable housing units, is dramatically eroding the city’s efforts to fill it’s housing needs. A comprehensive strategy is needed now. One that increases resources for production and passes policies reducing housing losses. For a copy of the report when it is available, please call (213) 480-1249.

Attachment	Size
press advisory lareport2006.pdf	28.07 KB
SCANPH_LAHousing06.pdf	164.55 KB