Over the years, the City of Los Angeles has worked with private developers to redevelop much of its prime real estate. A pending request for qualifications (RFQ) aims to bring housing to a dozen City-owned properties that don't quite fit that bill.

"As the City of Los Angeles continues to face a severe housing shortage, one innovative solution to produce more housing has been the identification and development of its large inventory of City-owned sites," reads a motion introduced by 4th District Councilmember Nithya Raman to initiate the RFQ. The Los Angeles Housing Department, through its Land Development Unit, is responsible for soliciting these sites to developers, but the process for developing City-owned land can require several years, largely due to the complexity of public project development requirements. Further, to increase their chances of securing competitive public financing, developers often propose large, high-yield projects on these sites. Together, these development realities have meant that only the City’s largest and most competitive sites have been developed."

However, the City of Los Angeles also owns thousands of "small lots," which are under a quarter-acre in size, and have sat empty for decades in many cases. A pending request for qualifications through the "Small Lots, Big Impacts," initiative between the City of Los Angeles and cityLAB at UCLA could set the table for redevelopment of these sites.

Small Lots, Big Impacts concept submitted by WORD and SSKWORD and SSK

Concepts submitted to the SLBI design contest call for "gentle density" typologies which blend into surrounding neighborhoods, while also providing starter homes that are attainable to those earning between 80 and 150 percent of the area median income level. Under the initiative, an initial round of 12 properties would be sold at fair market value to selected development teams for the purpose of building units for first-time homeowners. Proceeds from the land sales would be used to provide assistance to those first-time homebuyers, modeled on the Housing Department's existing Low Income and Moderate Income Purchase Assistance programs.

The 12 sites include: 

  • 1635 Laurel Canyon Boulevard;
  • 6941 Camrose Drive in Hollywood;
  • 732 S. Cochran Avenue in Mid-Wilshire;
  • 239 W. 86th Place in South Los Angeles;
  • 5863 Wall Street in South Los Angeles;
  • 1630 E. 45th Street in Central-Alameda;
  • 2444 Crenshaw Boulevard in West Adams;
  • 22350 Malden Street in Canoga Park;
  • 1816 Wilton Place in Hollywood;
  • 3755 Harriman Avenue in El Sereno;
  • 505 Broad Avenue in Wilmington; and
  • 534 W. 12th Street in San Pedro.

Small Lots, Big Impacts concept submitted by Olson KundigOlson Kundig

Pending authorization by the City Council, the Housing Department will issue the RFQ to create a list of interested development teams. Disposition of the sites to the selected teams will required City Council approval.

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