The new regulations will change who qualifies for rent-controlled and low-income housing units, like the ones in an existing building at 250 N. Crescent Drive. (photo by Tabor Brewster)

The Beverly Hills City Council on Oct. 10 formally approved revised guidelines that will affect who qualifies for affordable housing within the city. The revisions were previously approved by the Planning Commission.

According to a city staff report, the revisions address topics that needed clarification, while aligning with practices implemented by HouseKeys, the program administrator for the city’s affordable housing program. The new guidelines are also updated to adhere with state law.

The new guidelines also alter and clarify who gets priority for occupancy in affordable housing units. While both the original guidelines and revisions prioritize occupancy for residents who were displaced by construction of the affordable housing project, the updated guidelines provide a new definition of “displacement.” The new definition of displacement includes residents who were displaced due to demolition of their unit for a new housing project, involuntary vacation due to natural disaster or substandard living conditions and voluntary vacation. Additionally, the timeframe for qualifying as displaced was extended to 10 years.

Resident Nanci Saper submitted a public comment suggesting that the tier system used to determine occupancy take into account year of displacement, as opposed to the current lottery system used to choose occupants from the list of displaced residents.

“[The current system] completely discounts those who have been waiting since the list began in 2016 and 2017 who were displaced when there was little or no affordable housing, when they had no assistance from the city and were not part of the tier system,” Saper said. “You are putting someone who’s waited nine years in the same pool as someone who’s waited one year. I don’t think that that’s fair.”

Principal City Planner Chloe Chen said city staff considered taking into account time of displacement, but decided against it due to difficulties with verifying when a resident was displaced.

The City Council members supported the revisions, and voted unanimously to approve the new guidelines.

“I’m going to support the recommendation. We can see how it works in practice and we can always come back and make changes if there are obvious elements of unfairness,” Councilman John Mirisch said. “We want to make sure – and I think there are other policies we can and should look at – to try to avoid displacement, and when there is redevelopment that is unavoidable, to ensure that those tenants who are displaced from a project come back to the same property.”

There are currently eight affordable housing units in the city, but with an updated housing element and the approval of new buildings containing affordable housing units, the city is expected to create more affordable housing within the next few years.