The Los Angeles City Council’s Planning and Land Use Committee supported a motion on June 20 that will make permanent key provisions of Mayor Karen Bass’ executive directive exempting 100% affordable and supportive housing projects from the city’s lengthy discretionary review processes.

The mayor issued the directive in December shortly after taking office. It has been credited with dramatically cutting approval time for 100% affordable housing projects – from an average of six months to 37 days. However, key provisions of the executive directive will expire without City Council action. The motion by Council President Paul Krekorian, 2nd District, and Councilwomen Katy Yaroslavsky, 5th District, and Nithya Raman, 4th District, will make the provisions permanent. The motion must still be considered in the Housing and Homelessness Committee before advancing to the full City Council.

“The city of Los Angeles is in a housing affordability crisis partially of its own making,” Yaroslavsky said. “For decades, the city has stood in its own way, creating unnecessary bureaucracy that fails to address this crisis with the urgency it requires. Executive Directive One changed that by dramatically shortening the time it takes to get shovels in the ground, and new affordable housing built. We can’t go back to the way it was before – we must take swift action and enshrine Executive Directive One into law.”

“We are experiencing one of the largest affordable housing crises in the nation, in part because we have been unable to build enough units at the pace required to match the scale of need in the city,” Raman said. “Executive Directive One took a major step toward tackling this issue, drastically reducing approval times and allowing us to break ground on 100% affordable housing projects in record time. It is critical that we codify Executive Directive One into law, allowing us to continue to meet this crisis with the urgency it requires.”

Yaroslavsky and Raman introduced a related motion last week that delegates authority to the Los Angeles Housing Department to approve funding for affordable housing projects requesting less than $25 million in city contributions, so long as they meet specific criteria. It will reform the current process, which can require multiple council votes and cause months-long delays, the councilwomen said. The costly delays can prevent projects from reaching their state-mandated deadlines to receive public funding.

“Executive Directive One has proven that City Hall can help accelerate and lower the cost of affordable housing,” Bass said. “Results like this need to be codified and replicated. I want to thank those in council who voted to advance this important motion that builds on the successes of this executive directive by beginning the process of making it a permanent city policy. Urgently confronting our homelessness crisis will take a whole of government approach, and I’m grateful to continue locking arms with the City Council to move L.A. forward.”