Mayor Eric Garcetti Friday signed a ordinance into law that hopes to boost the city’s stock of affordable housing by legalizing some previously unpermitted apartments in multifamily buildings.
Under the Unpermitted Dwelling Ordinance, landlords can rent out previously unapproved units, provided they offer an equal amount of affordable housing units at the same location.
“Too many Angelenos are already struggling to stay ahead of rising rents — and we must take action to protect our communities, and keep families in their homes,” Garcetti said. “This ordinance will improve the health and safety of our housing stock, add more units to the market, and bring us closer to meeting our affordable housing goals.”
According to Councilman Jose Huizar’s office, an unintended result of the city’s inspection of multifamily buildings was the elimination of an estimated 400 to 500 housing units from the market each year because they were not permitted and were rented illegally.
“The UDU ordinance is a common-sense solution to increasing the city of Los Angeles’ affordable housing stock and protecting low- and moderate-income Angelenos doing their best to get by living in unapproved units at no fault of their own,” said Huizar, chair of the city’s Planning Committee. “This ordinance will directly benefit and protect those residents and their families while increasing our available affordable housing stock for others.”
For a unit to be eligible for a permit, it must be free from other code violations and meet other standards, including having existed since before Dec. 10, 2015.
As part of the ordinance, the Housing and Community Investment Department will develop a program that would defer certain code enforcement proceedings while landlords work to bring their unpermitted units into compliance.
“Passage of the Unapproved Dwelling Units Ordinance is a small but significant step to address affordability in Los Angeles,” Councilman Gil Cedillo said. “Buildings zoned as multiple family, including apartments and duplexes, will now be brought to code while ensuring health and safety requirements, adding to our housing stock. We are in a housing crisis and need to use every tool within reach to increase our affordable housing supply.”
— City News Service