Housing Element

The City of Los Angeles is launching the 2021-2029 Update to the Housing Element, a state-mandated Element of the General Plan. A dedicated webpage for the update to the Housing Element will be available in early 2020. In the meantime, you can find information on the current Housing Element, sign up for email notifications about the update, and learn more about upcoming opportunities to get involved.

The Housing Element is one of the nine state-mandated elements of the General Plan. The Housing Element of the General Plan identifies the City’s housing conditions and needs, establishes the goals, objectives, and policies that are the foundation of the City’s housing strategy, and provides an array of programs to create sustainable, mixed-income neighborhoods across the City.

The current Housing Element was adopted in 2013 and is in effect through 2021. PDFs of the Housing Element are available in low resolution and high resolution, and the accordions below present each section of the document.

Executive Summary

The City of Los Angeles continues to grow, and with that growth comes the need for more housing – not only more units, but a broader array of housing types to meet evolving household types and sizes, and a greater variety of housing price points that people at all income levels can afford.

Chapter 1. Housing Needs Assessment

Provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of the City’s population, household, and housing stock characteristics in order to identify the variety of housing needs across the City.

Chapter 2. Constraints on Housing Maintenance, Improvement, and Development

Addresses regulations and conditions that constitute constraints to housing production and preservation, including governmental regulations, infrastructure requirements and market conditions such as land, construction and labor costs as well as restricted financing availability.

Chapter 3. Inventory of Sites for Housing

State housing element law requires the City to show that it has adequate land zoned to accommodate expected population growth. The figure is called the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA). For the 2013-2021 RHNA cycle, the number of housing units estimated to be needed in Los Angeles is 82,002. The Inventory of Sites for Housing (along with Appendix H) identifies parcels suitable for additional residential development without the need for any discretionary zoning action by the City.

Chapter 4. Opportunities for Conservation in Residential Development

State housing element law requires cities to identify opportunities for energy conservation in residential development. The City has broadened this analysis to include water conservation, alternative energy sources and sustainable development policies and programs that support conservation and reduce demand.

Chapter 5. Review of the 2006-2014 Housing Element

Preparation of the Housing Element Update included the essential step of evaluating the 2006-2014 Housing Element in order to identify progress and evaluate the effectiveness of previous policies and programs.

Chapter 6. Housing Goals, Policies, Objectives and Programs

The objectives, policies and implementation programs under each goal speak to the diverse housing needs throughout Los Angeles. Each program was crafted to meet particular housing needs of residents in the City, whether they are renters or homeowners, or populations with special needs.