Los Angeles needs to add 250,000 new homes to meet a state-mandated goal by the end of the decade. The city’s current zoning cannot accommodate that type of growth, so LA has to rezone itself to make room for more housing. But, since nearly three quarters of the city may be declared off limits, that is causing some problems. Liam Dillon writes about housing for the LA Times and joined Lisa McRee on "LA Times Today" to talk about the issue. 

The dream of owning a home in California was what brought many people to the Golden State from other parts of the country, Dillon said. But that dream is partially what led to the housing crunch California is in now.  

“There was an amount of developable land that existed in Southern California, the lima bean fields, the various orange groves, and the agriculture turned into housing. And then at some point that ran out. At the same time, we decided to restrict the areas that were already developed as single-family neighborhoods, to not let any more growth occur to them. That has resulted in Los Angeles, for instance, 72% of the developable land, residential and commercial land is zoned only for single-family homes. When you cut off that much of the city from having more growth, it’s a lot harder to get housing built,” he explained. 

Dillon said that the city council must now decide whether to keep those single family home areas as they are, or allow those spaces to accommodate larger rental properties. He also spoke about a new study that looked at the origins of zoning in LA.

“What [the study] talked about was how single-family-only districts are part of a long pattern, over 100 years, of essentially city leaders and real estate interests prioritizing of white middle-class homeowners as having the largest interest in what was going on in Los Angeles and getting the preferences that’s been to the detriment of communities of color and poorer people. The reservation of much land for single family housing has hurt the ability of the city to integrate,” he said. 

That city-funded report also found that a majority of the areas with good public schools and public amenities are zoned for single-family homes. 

Before any rezoning plans can be put in place, Dillon explained, the city council will need to formally approve them. 

“There will be likely be, before the end of the year, a vote at the city council that will sort of formally enshrine this plan for state regulators to sign off on early next year,” he said. 

Watch the full interview above.

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