Los Angeles approves new rules for homeless housing development

The Los Angeles City Council passed dual ordinances that will speed up the development of new units of housing for homeless.

The Permanent Supportive Housing Ordinance is designed to help shrink the pre-development timeline for many supportive housing developments from five years to less than one. This will create a streamlined planning process and removing regulatory barriers that have historically impeded the approval and construction of supportive housing, according to a statement from the city.

The Interim Motel Conversion Ordinance will allow existing motels and hotels to be retrofitted for use as supportive and transitional housing — linked to county-funded services designed to help homeless Angelenos rebuild their lives. The law would allow the properties to be used for this purpose for a specific period of time and eventually returned to their previous use.

“These two ordinances expedite our previous practices to provide new tools to speed up desperately needed housing to assist our homeless population,” council member Jose Huizar, chair of the planning, land use and management committee, said in a statement.

“The Permanent Supportive Housing Ordinance will mean Proposition HHH housing will get built quicker. The Motel Conversion Ordinance gives greater flexibility and incentives to motel and hotel owners to convert their operations into homeless housing. The bottom line is we have to accelerate our efforts to provide more long-term supportive housing and temporary, emergency housing. The need is great on both ends and we simply must do more to meet that demand. I applaud my City Council colleagues for their support.”