California Construction News staff writer
Los Angeles is broadening its effort to increase starter-home supply with a new phase of the “Small Lots, Big Impacts” initiative, shifting focus to privately owned parcels to unlock more “missing middle” housing development across the city.
The initiative, led by cityLAB UCLA in partnership with Genesis LA, will launch a request for information (RFI) on May 7 to select up to three development teams. Those teams will be tasked with acquiring small private lots and delivering demonstration projects featuring housing types such as duplexes, fourplexes and courtyard-style apartments.
Grayscale aerial view of the LA basin with potential land parcels for development identified in pink.
Organizers say the goal is to demonstrate how compact, homeownership-focused development can be integrated into existing residential neighbourhoods while expanding affordability options in a constrained housing market.
“Public land will continue to be a focus for innovation, but privately owned lots have always been the long term target for these compact starter homes,” said Dana Cuff, director of cityLAB UCLA. “There’s clearly a ready market for more affordable home ownership, and the ‘Small Lots’ initiative will show us how beautifully that will fit into existing residential areas.”
The program builds on an earlier phase launched in December 2024 at Mayor Karen Bass’s Innovative Construction Expo, which featured a design competition attracting more than 350 submissions for small-scale, multi-unit housing concepts.
The new private land stream represents a major expansion of the initiative’s scope, aiming to significantly increase the number of viable development sites across Los Angeles.
Under the program, selected teams will also gain access to financing support through Genesis LA’s Homeownership Innovation Fund, which can cover up to 95 per cent of total project costs, including land acquisition, predevelopment and construction.
“We have observed that missing middle housing developers struggle to attract investment capital and this limits the opportunities to add new missing middle housing supply to the Los Angeles market,” said Tom De Simone of Genesis LA. “Our goal is to model the viability of these housing types so that more local developers can successfully pursue more projects like these in the future.”
Officials say the financing model is part of the broader “Connecting Capital and Community” initiative, a national effort supporting innovative affordable housing development in multiple U.S. cities.
Development teams responding to the RFI will be evaluated based on how closely their proposals align with program goals, including infill development, compact ownership opportunities for first-time buyers, and shared or community-oriented amenities.
The RFI will be formally released at a public event on May 7 in Los Angeles, followed by a virtual information session on May 14. Applications are due June 12.
City officials and project partners say the combined focus on public and private land is intended to accelerate production of smaller-scale ownership housing as Los Angeles continues to grapple with persistent affordability and supply challenges.
