LA Controllers Audit Says Affordable Housing Must Be City's Top Priority

The City of Los Angeles is losing the race to preserve and build enough homes that are affordable for its residents according to a newly released audit of the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) by City Controller Laura Chick.

The audit contains 28 recommendations to help LAHD provide more housing that people can afford, and calls for greater collective energy and political leadership from the city to help solve the housing crisis, which has hit the poor and working class the hardest.

Because LAHD does not track the number of low-rent affordable units that are needed, built and lost each year, the audit argues that the department has no way to assess if it is adequately addressing the problem. The report also recommends new sources of funding for housing production, the need for new information systems, and the resolution of long-standing problems tracking and monitoring existing properties.

Calling the shortage of affordable housing a crisis, Controller Chick emphasized the need for City-wide over-arching, quantitative goals.“My audit of the Housing Department’s Affordable Housing Program found a Department hard at work to solve the housing crisis. However, the Housing Department is up against problems that they cannot solve alone,” said Chick. Her cover letter to the report ends by noting, “If the lack of affordable housing is a crisis problem, as it seems to be, then certainly we should have the will to make the production of affordable housing a top priority throughout our City.”

The audit provides added clout to a SCANPH report released last year that showed that the city was falling behind and overall had lost over 11,000 affordable housing units since 2001 due to condo conversions and demolitions while production lagged behind the city’s significant housing needs (SCANPH report link: http://www.scanph.org/node/84).

Controller Chick calls for a comprehensive plan to address the city’s housing crisis and many of the audit’s recommendations mirror the recommendations of Housing Los Angeles (HLA) and the 3 Point Plan including the establishment of a dedicated source of funding for affordable housing, a citywide mixed income zoning requirement, and the preservation of affordable housing units.

“The most important aspects of this audit are its focus on the need for a City-wide plan that includes measurable outcomes and the coordinated efforts of every department involved with housing production and preservation”, noted SCANPH executive director, Paul Zimmerman. “The solutions are straightforward; the missing ingredient is the political will to make it happen.”

For more information on Housing Los Angeles and the 3-Point Plan, please visit: http://www.scanph.org/node/38

Link to coverage of the affordable housing audit in the Los Angeles Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-affordable10jul10,1,396800.story

Link to coverage of the affordable housing audit in the Los Angeles Daily News: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_6337181