Category

zoning
Cartoon floor plan with a "Not Approved" stamp on it.
Have you heard? Los Angeles has a housing problem! We’re over 450,000 housing units short based on the latest RHNA (Regional Housing Needs Allocation) assessment. Need a recap on why? Check out our short history lesson on housing and how we got here: Part 1 and Part 2, and then read up on the latest...
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Cartoon showing the before and after of housing density. Before, there is one orange house on each green rectangle of land, while after has multiple houses and multi-unit buildings on each green rectangle.
Our previous blogs in this Affordable Housing series took a peek at the history of how we got to the current housing shortage, and then highlighted a few of the big “Streamlining” bills. If you haven’t already, check out our recent articles: Why is Housing in Los Angeles So Expensive? (Part 1) Why is Housing...
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Graphic depicting two houses on the same property. One house sits closer to the street, while the other sits behind the first house at the back of the property.
UPDATE: Since writing and posting this blog back in January 2022, Los Angeles City Planning has created an info page and implementation memo. Check it out! —– There’s been a lot of buzz surrounding the recent Senate Bill 9 (SB9) that just went into effect earlier this month. It is California’s most recent attempt to...
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Colored sketch rendering of a modern house embedded into a hill. Shows the road in front of the house, the driveway and garage, the front entryway, and multiple balconies on the front facade.
First comes ownership, then comes design. I know what you’re all thinking. What ever happened to that spec house you guys were doing? Well, package a really strange pandemic that keeps going on and on and on with a very busy practice and next thing you know, the spec house got moved to the back...
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About three years ago, our team started looking for properties to develop in-house. If you haven’t noticed, there isn’t a ton of vacant land in Los Angeles. Finding something affordable with decent building opportunities is even harder. To evaluate each lot that came up in our land search, we had a mental checklist to see...
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Cartoon showing the amenities provided in buildings and in outdoor spaces. The buildings has icons for a bed, WiFi, a briefcase, and a medical symbol associated with it, while the outdoor space has a leaf, a kite, and a bike associated with it.
In our previous blog, we commented on the need for smart growth and development. How does that work? Good question. In looking for answers, we decided it was necessary to review other major metro area strategies. We’ve picked a few that were particularly interesting, or those that had good potential for implementation in Southern California....
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Rendering of multiple modern units from the street. Shows unit entrances, driveways, front yards, and the sidewalk.
  In our travels around Los Angeles presenting projects to various community groups, we face a lot of fearful residents concerned about increased density in the city. Everyone wants more affordable housing, but no one seems to want more housing. And as long as people keep moving to Los Angeles, we need more housing. After...
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