SCANPH and ACORN Intervene to Enforce Mixed Income Housing Requirement in Part of Los Angeles

On June 5, SCANPH and ACORN filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit brought by a market-rate developer seeking to invalidate and avoid an LA City specific plan area's requirements that certain residential developments within the area either (1) replace any residential units destroyed on the developed parcel, (2) include affordable units as part of the development or (3) pay a fee to be used for affordable housing developmet in the area.

ACORN has members that will be displaced by a development planned by Geoffrey Palmer, the developer, and that would be interested in applying to live in the affordable units Palmer is required to produce. SCANPH has members that have been awarded monies from fees that other residential developers in the Central City West specific plan area have paid, and SCANPH members would likely be awarded some portion of the fees that Palmer would have to pay if he opted to fulfill the inclusionary requirement in that manner. Representing ACORN and SCANPH are the ACLU, Western Center on Law & Poverty, and the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. The judge is scheduled to rule on whether ACORN and SCANPH may intervene on June 27.