LA Aims To Make Granny Flats Affordable To Ease Housing Crisis

LOS ANGELES, CA — Everyone wants to solve LA's homeless crisis, but few want to see shelters or low-income housing constructed in their neighborhoods. So City Councilman Bob Blumenfield is looking for a way to turn the"not in my backyard" sentiment on its head.

A citywide program to fund the construction of granny flats to house formerly homeless Angelenos could be enough to get homeowners lining up to invite people experiencing homelessness into their backyards, he hopes. Blumenfield this week proposed exploring the creation of a citywide granny flat financing program. The proposal piggybacks on other efforts to make it easier to construct backyard units to help ease the affordable housing crisis.

"As the city continues to expand its inventory of homeless interventions, and with (Proposition) HHH projects averaging $531,000 per unit, ADUs can provide long-term, cost-effective, affordable solutions for Angelenos experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity," Blumenfield's motion states.

On March 5, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced an initiative to give builders and homeowners pre-approved ADU building plans to allow for a faster and less expensive permitting process.

The city also has an ADU Accelerator program to let homeowners rent subsidized ADUs to older adults who face housing insecurity.

Blumenfield said he believes that program could be "scaled up to help greater numbers of Angelenos experiencing housing insecurity, including those living in interim housing and experiencing homelessness." He suggested financial incentives that make homeowners want to house homeless people in their own backyard.

If approved, the motion, which was seconded by Councilman Curren price, would:

• instruct the Housing and Community Investment Department, the City Administrative Officer and the Chief Legislative Officer to report to City Council within 10 days on the feasibility of creating a program to finance ADU construction to house homeless people through a master lease agreement administered by the city or a partner;
• instruct HCID, the CAO and the CLA to explore federal and state funding options and report back in 10 days with available financing tools to fund the construction of those ADUs and for managing the city's program; and
• instruct the Department of Building and Safety and HCID to report on scaling up the ADU Accelerator Program to include for ground-up construction of ADUs to expand the tenant base beyond older adults.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.