L.A. County says state housing laws stand in way of rebuilding. Advocates disagree

Los Angeles Times ^ | Jan 29, 2025 08:56 PM | Rebecca Ellis

[E. Pluribus Unum]

A request by L.A. County to temporarily waive state housing laws drew the ire from advocates who accused the county of skirting efforts aimed at boosting affordable housing.

County Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey Horvath, who represent districts blackened by this month’s wildfires, put forward a motion Tuesday with 41 steps they want department heads to take to speed up the recovery process.

That included an ask to Gov. Gavin Newsom to temporarily exempt the county from some of the state’s most significant housing laws intended to speed up the creation of affordable housing, including parts of Senate Bill 330, aimed at preserving affordable housing, and the Density Bonus Law, which encourages developers to build new units.

Amy Bodek, head of the county planning department, said she believed the state laws could end up hampering recovery, incentivizing density at the expense of homeowners looking to rebuild what they had.

“In order to provide the community the ability to return and not face immediate displacement, we understand the need to pause some of these policies,” she said at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, adding that she wanted to ask for a five-year waiver for unincorporated areas, which include Altadena and some of the communities burned by the Palisades fire.

“We are not antihousing,” she said. “To say that we are antihousing is someone that’s not been paying attention.”

At the meeting, housing advocates contended that the county‘s waiver proposal would slash too many restrictions, bypassing laws aimed at solving the region’s affordable housing crisis.

“This is just totally going in the wrong direction,” said Nolan Gray, senior director of legislation and research for California YIMBY, noting that the laws have spurred the construction of thousands of affordable units across the state. “There’s so much in here that has nothing...”

[E. Pluribus Unum]

At the meeting, housing advocates contended that the county‘s waiver proposal would slash too many restrictions, bypassing laws aimed at solving the region’s affordable housing crisis.

Name one time government made anything more "affordable."

[ClearCase_guy]

[shrug] You’re not supposed to own anything. You’re just required to tell Master how happy you are.

[heavy metal]

voting for trump 2024...

[Political Junkie Too]

That included an ask to Gov. Gavin Newsom to temporarily exempt the county

Is this some new kind of grammar I've been seeing creep into woke?

What happened to "asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to temporarily exempt the county?"

-PJ

[stevio]

Maybe it’s abbreviation for “a$$ kiss”.

[BenLurkin]

"...state laws could end up hampering recovery, incentivizing density at the expense of homeowners looking to rebuild what they had."

Infringing on property rights is the entire idea behind such laws. It matters not to the Party if its regulations work or not, make things better or makes things worse. Only that the Party expands the totality of its power.

[blackdog]

Bass says that’s just false.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Coming up. The Homeless Grammys.

[BenLurkin]

Rekwest is too hard to spell.

[Political Junkie Too]

It's the same thing that FBI Assistant Agent in Charge at the New Orleans New Year's Eve press conference said.

"My ask is that..."

-PJ

[vikingd00d]

And now we get to the real reason for the neglect behind the fire. Burn down properties, then take control of rebuilding to advance communist policies. just like in Lahaina.

[Regulator]

“incentivizing density at the expense of homeowners looking to rebuild what they had”

Cuz that’s what they want. Soviet style apartment blocks on the beach, filled with the annointed victims of Evil White Capitalists.

That’s the way they get to prattle about “the environment” and but also have mass immigration of Sacred Brown People. Just go vertical with concrete block favellas. No “suburban sprawl” with SFD’s to encroach on coyote habitat!

[Steely Tom]

Can I get an advocate?

[wetgundog]

You know what stands in the way? Woke, greedy, Democrats!

[Steely Tom]

Is this some new kind of grammar I've been seeing creep into woke?

I first heard it used in the term "the big ask."

I think it comes from booking agent lingo, or deal-making lingo.

It's related to "the big get."

[catnipman]

it’s absolutely insane that these types of laws and regulations apply to anything that’s simply being built back under any circumstance ... period ...

[Sarah Barracuda]

Karen Bass wants to bring in “Outside consultants” to rebuild the Palisades..so we all know what that means, they are gonna turn the Palisades into a damn slum, filling it with low income housing to make it more “equitable”

[asinclair]

I'm surprised there has been no hinting at going the route of “projects” like Chicago's Cabrini Green. Could it be that the California branch of the Democrat Cult learned useful lessons from that? “In 1997, Mayor Richard M. Daley announced a redevelopment plan that would demolish most Cabrini-Green housing. In 2011, the last high-rise was razed, and many of its residents were displaced...”

[Eleutheria5]

"At the meeting, housing advocates contended that the county‘s waiver proposal would slash too many restrictions, bypassing laws aimed at solving the region’s affordable housing crisis."

Paid for by your property taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, user fees...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbbNH3KTB_I

[Bernard]

Based on how long it took to get anything done at the site of World Trade Center, and that wasn’t even in California, we can reasonably expect to see final construction at the fire sites to be complete about the same time that Jean-Luc Picard takes command of the Enterprise.