The Los Angeles City Council’s Housing Committee signed off Wednesday on a proposal to study housing needs for moderate-income residents.
The motion was introduced earlier this year by City Councilman David Ryu, who noted that only 0.5% of new housing built in the last five years was aimed at Angelenos earning a median income. The proposal needs the full city council approval in order for a study to be conducted.
“Something is fundamentally wrong in our city when the largest share of people get the smallest share of housing,” Ryu said. “By asking the city to first identify the middle class and then create incentives for developers to build for this group, we can build the housing we need most.”
Ryu said even though the city needs to continue to build supportive housing, teachers, firefighters, construction workers and the like cannot afford the city’s expensive housing and must commute.
In the past five years, 91% of housing units constructed in Los Angeles were built for high-income earners, according to data from the City’s Planning Department, more than twice as many needed to meet demand.